A few of my favorite things…
bromances
organization
Vintage
Pops of Color
Inspiration
Boys who cook (& not to mention this gorgeous outdoor kitchen)
Stripes
Turquoise
Hats
Home Sweet America
Officially back on American soil and back from my amazing Italian home away from home after 5 of the best weeks of my life. Words simply cannot describe the experience I’ve had over this time— I’ve been blessed enough to meet the most beautiful, loving, wonderful friends, jump off cliffs into the turquoise blue Mediterranean sea, eat my weight in mouth watering margherita pizza, hike the 5 towns of Cinque Terre, climb to the top of the leaning tower of pisa and so so much more. I couldn’t forget the experience that studying abroad provided me even if I tried… I’ve grown so much in myself, and learned about not only the world, but how important people make your experiences count. It certainly feels good to be home, but Montepulciano will continue to have a special place in my heart for the rest of my life.
Sorento
wine barrels at the wine tasting
last sunset in Montey-P
Overlook
The Tents
Beautiful blue water in Capri
Posted July 31, 2011 at 8:54pm
Cinque Terre stole my heart.
As I sit here enjoying a hot cappuccino and watching the Tuscan sunset at a café here in Montepulciano, I cannot help but realize how utterly happy I am in this very moment. I think one of the coolest things about this trip is having a dream made reality: for so long I wished to travel and explore…and here I am, in the heart of Italy… living my life to the fullest and reveling in the beauty of the world.
This past weekend, my roommates and I, and about 25 other people in our study abroad group left from Pisa (where I climbed THE leaning tower of Pisa!) and headed over to Cinque Terre, which is on the coast of Italy. When I say this place is beyond beautiful, I cannot stress enough how very incredible it is. I literally felt like I was dreaming when I got off the train only to see the turquoise blue waves crashing along the rocks right next to the most beautifully colored villas along the coast. Cinque Terre is composed of 5 towns, each beautiful and unique in their own sense. The area is famous for it’s 5 town strenuous, however very scenic hike that takes roughly 7-8 hours to complete. Being the troopers that we are, a big group of us took on the challenge and took all day Friday to hike through Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso. The hike was possibly one of the most strenuous and vigorous things I’ve ever done, but it wasn’t too hard to look past the sweat, quickly beating hearts and aching legs when I had a once in a lifetime view to see with just the turn of my head. The sense of accomplishment from finishing that hike is a moment I don’t think I will ever forget. When we reached the end of the trail, I took a mental note to remember every second. I keep on realizing how blessed I am to be having these experiences: it truly is a special experience.
The weekend continued to prove to an adventure that I’ll hold on to forever. We spent the night after the hike eating dinner on the beach In Monterosso and then headed over to Vernazza (which is the “young” town of Cinque Terre) and got a few drinks at The Blue Marlin, where we watched fire dancers/breathers and then headed back to our hotel for some much needed rest. All in all, this weekend was definitely one of my favorites… excited to see what the next 2 weeks has in store.
Posted July 17, 2011 at 3:55pm
Roma!
It took me a moment to realize through my sleep-laden eyes that the panoramic view of rolling hills and brightly colored terra cotta villas are signs of what I now consider a home away from home. It has been 2 ½ weeks here in Italia, the land of wine, olive oil, and most famously, love. As clique as it may sound, time truly does seem to fly when you’re having fun and with each passing day of this tremendous journey, I am doing my best to soak each and every moment in for all they worth.
Today we arrived back in Montepulciano after a museum-filled, death march throughout all of the most famous sights in Rome. Even now, just looking back at the past few days, I am still in shock about how much I have seen all at once: The Coliseum, The Roman Forum, The Capitoline, The Trevi Fountain, The Pantheon…. The list could go on for days. Each of these wonderful sights is truly unique in their own way and even though the heat was enough to melt my skin off, and my feet felt like they’d eventually just walk off on their own after the trek, I am so excited to be having this experience.
We stayed in a youth hostel this weekend that was surprisingly one of my favorite parts of the weekend. Hostels are unique in their own sense because you really get the full experience of traveling: all under one roof you get to meet people from all over the world and share your tourist tips and offer suggestions of favorite places to visit. Another amazing thing about the people you meet in hostels is getting to hear their exceptional travel tales. We had the opportunity to meet a girl from Sydney, Australia who was traveling by herself until November… she’s been gone a month and already been to several different places including Prague, and Italy. I find it truly incredible to meet people with such courage and curiosity for travel… it just reaffirms my belief that if you put your mind to it, you can achieve any goal you want.
Well, another week in my lovely home of Monte-P to look forward to, as well as another field trip to Rome and then Pisa on Thursday and Cinque Terra this weekend.
Il gusto della vita.
Posted July 10, 2011 at 9:40am
I think that you find your own way. You have your own rules. You have your own understanding of yourself, and that’s what you’re going to count on. In the end, it’s what feels right to you. Not what your mother told you. Not what some actress told you. Not what anybody else told you but the still, small voice.
— Meryl Streep | 0nestepcloser (via quote-book)
When in Florence…
Roses in Florence
My loves before headin to Dinner in the Piazza by the Uffizi.
The group out one night at The Old Stove!
To say this weekend was EPIC, would be a complete and utter understatement. Seeing the Birth of Venus in the Uffizi, The David at the Academia and the Duomo was all only a start to one of the most fun weekends of my life thus far! Florence is a magical city with so much to offer… I loved every second of my stay there. We started the weekend after our long day of touring with our classes with our very first Hostel experience. The Hostel was NOTHING like what I expected… I had a terrible image of a dingy, dirty blank white room with bunk beds. Instead, we were greeted kindly by the owners who were incredibly accommodating (especially when we had an “Italian moment” when the reservation site booked us for the wrong dates…) and we walked into a private room with 1 king bed and 2 twin beds with a private bathroom and shower. That was such a pleasant surprise and after we rested our weary bones and took an hour nap, we showered (another Italian moment, we came underprepared without towels and ended up having to share one towel the entire weekend!) and got ready for a night out on the town.
The start of our night was possibly one of my favorite moments in this whole trip so far. Lauren and I waited for the rest of our group to meet up with us to head out for dinner and while we waited we stumbled upon the classiest bar, with the most wonderful bartender named Luca. Luca served us Pina Coladas and had us help ourselves to an array of snacks at the bar. As we sipped on our cocktails, we walked outside and right at that moment the sun began to set on the Piazza in front of the Uffizi. I couldn’t help but smile for about an hour straight at how beautiful everything around me was.
Little did I know, that moment would be followed with a night FULL of wonderful people and wonderful memories. After we met up with our group, we headed to “The Old Stove”, a pub by The Duomo and then out to a club, where we danced the night away.
After a long night and walking home to the sunset, we slept in and spent the next day soaking up Florence, shopping and eating delicious food and Gelato. After a relaxing day, we began round 2… We went out to eat with all the girls at a fantastic restaraunt and we were lucky enough to listen in on a live orchestra play in the background by the Ufizzi… it was a moment to be remembered.
On Saturday, we made our way out of Florence and headed on to Siena (go, go, go nonstop!) After we stopped in at McDonalds… (steriotypical Americans, i know!) we hopped on the train and once we got off in Siena, the adventure began. Practically nobody at the train/bus station spoke a lick of English so we wandered around for an hour trying to figure out HOW IN THE WORLD to catch a bus into town, only to find out they were suspended.. typical, right? Finally we gave up and just walked the 30 minutes into town and made our way to Palio, the big horse race. We didn’t get to see the actual horse race, but the festivities and the abundance of tradition that gather around the festivities were really, truly incredible.
Life is good my friends, life is good. more to come!
Florence!
The Duomo!
Posted July 3, 2011 at 3:17pm
Monte-P & Rome
This wonderful place continues to amaze me with each and every adventure… I apologize for not writing more often, but the internet is sparse here in Montepulciano, which is oddly refreshing. It’s a completely new concept to not be fully connected 24/7… we only use phones if completely necessary, tv’s are a no go and like I mentioned, wifi and internet are hard to come by.
Last Saturday night marked out first night out on the town here in Tuscany and it was a great way to start the festivities: the town’s main “nightlife”, The Garden, or as we have re-named it, The Tents, is down at the bottom of the hill (yes, Monte-P is on a never-ending gigantic hill). Most every in the study abroad group headed down there, but certainly not after starting at a local bar, where we’ve all made great friends with Pino and Leena, the owners. Pino and Leena are possibly the sweetest, funniest, kindest, warmest Italians (if not people) I have ever met! They have already learned almost all of our names and sweet Leena has named us her “Favorite Georgia group of all 4 years” which is quite an honor, especially coming from Leena’s surprisingly wonderful attempt at English 
Lauren & I at Pino and Leena’s!
The Monte-B’s!
Last Monday marked out 1st day of classes, and while I’d much rather not be in class, I’d take class in Tuscany over class in GA any day! We went on our first official field trip on Tuesday to Rome… and I was in AWE the entire day we spent there. You spend your entire life wanting to see paintings like “The School of Athens” and churches like St. Peter’s Basilica and suddenly there I am, witnessing these incredible things all at once. I feel like Ashton Kutcher is about to pop out of no where and yell “PUNK’D” because I still cannot believe any of it is real!
Keep an eye out for my next post, I’ll fill y’all in on my magical weekend in Florence and Siena!
Posted July 3, 2011 at 12:50pm
Italia
At this very moment, I am in complete and utter awe at what my eyes are witnessing. The sights, the sounds, the smells and the spirit of Montepulciano, Italy are taking my breath away with each and every second. On day 2, as I sit here in the Piazza Grande, which is the main square of town, I am listening to string quartette play and sitting against the stone walls of an ancient Catholic church. PINCH ME. I keep reminding myself that this is real even though time and time again I look around and feel like I’m being PUNK’D… how am I lucky enough to be in this world? I’ll let you know when I find an answer to that question, but until then, welcome to my story…. my journey of self exploration and exploring my passion for this amazing world.
The rolling hills
Sunset
The Piazza Grande
I’ll be honest- the trip here was nothing short of incredibly long. After a 9 1/2 hour flight to Frankfurt, Germany (which was made a little less strenuous by a personal TV filled with a library of wisely chosen flicks) we had to book it to our next gate so that we weren’t stuck in the land of beer (oh wait, that doesn’t sound too terrible does it? But nonetheless…) Two hours later and we arrived in Rome (yah…. I just said ROME!) and then it was on to the 3 hour drive to Tuscany and a van ride up to the top of Montepulciano. This town, which I shall be calling my home for the next 5 ½ weeks is particularly incredible: it’s small town charm paired with it’s pure Italian authenticity is addicting… I’ve only been here for 1 full day and I already cannot imagine not breathing this air each and every day.
In addition to all of the amazing things I’m witnessing (and tasting… cough Red Wine/Pizza/Pasta/Bread cough), the actual program itself has been a breath of fresh air. Going in to this experience not knowing a SINGLE soul has already proved to be beneficial: in the past 48 I’ve already met people who I know will continue to be a vital addition to this already incredible experience.
Ciao…Until next time!
Posted June 25, 2011 at 12:54pm
Tomorrow.
Tomorrow.
Tomorrow I leave for what I imagine to be one of the most beautiful and exciting adventures in my life up to date. I am leaping into the unknown: I don’t know a single soul and I am chomping at the bits (as grotesque as that phrase might sound, it fits perfectly) to take this adventure upon myself: to learn about others, to learn about a brand new country, but most of all, however selfish it may be, to learn about myself.
Ciao, Arrivederci… I hope you all continue to follow adventure here :)
Posted June 22, 2011 at 5:41pm
