The Things we will miss Most....

Things you wouldn't know about ITALY unless you lived here:

1. To flush the toilet you can press a "small flush" or a "big flush"

2. Grocery workers sit in the checkout line

3. you don't tip anywhere

4. Italians don't move when you are walking on the side walk.. YOU MOVE

5. All doors in Italy open TOWARDS you- not out, like in america

6. The way you count on your hand- start with the thumb as number 1 and finish at your pinky

7. You have to pay for grocery bags at the store

8. Traffic has to stop for you. Just walk into the middle of the street and they will all stop like magic!

9. When you buy veggies, you have to bag them and then weigh, and paste a sticker on the bag

10. They have coins for 1 Euros and 2 Euros

11. Every apartment has "hurricane-like" shutters that you have to close every-night- for safety and light

12. There are water fountains all over rome that are constantly running water- also, every fountain in Rome are drinkable

13. Everything is pretty much closed from 1-4 during the day for "nap" time

14. Italians walk everywhere

15. You have to leave your umbrella outside the stores before entering them

16. You have to pay to use public restrooms- and they don't have toilet seats

Things we are Excited for in AMERICA:

1. A full closet of clothes- So many new options! Its going to be christmas all over again

2. Living in Omaha, a small city, compared to ROME

3. Being able to drive a car- its been 5 months, everyone might want to watch out!!

4. Our beds!!! We have slept on "cots" here (aka. feels like sleeping on cardboard)

5. We will be able to eavesdrop on other peoples conversations!

6. having a dryer to dry clothes! (Our jeans will actually not be stretched out anymore!)

7. Going to the grocery store and actually understanding what we are buying.... We haven't been able to figure out what kind of milk we have been drinking the whole time here..

8. Going to a Walgreens and Target

9. Home-cooked meals from Mom :)

10. Having a cell-phone that we know how to use + texting!!!

11. Watching TV (We haven't watched a TV in 4 months!)

12. Traffic laws- In Italy there is no order when driving- so scary!

13. FLAT sidewalks!! No more tripping in mysterious holes everywhere

14. Different types of ethnic food. Don't get us wrong, we love italian, but we really miss mexican and chinese!

15. Peanut butter!!

Things we are going to MISS about ITALY:

1. Waking up to the Vatican bells every-morning at 8 am

2. Going to the fresh fruit markets before dinner

3. Delicious food everywhere we look

4. Bart, the cute little butcher who had a shop below our apartment

5. The national "nap" in the middle of the day from 1-4

6. If you are ever outside caught in a rain storm, mysterious Moroccan men appear out of the walls with umbrellas-

7. Prices on everything are negotiable

8. Going on trips every-weekend!

Amalfi Coast Weekend in the Sun... or Rain

First, we need to talk about a bar we went to this past week. Its called Ice bar and it is the one of the few "ice bars" in Europe. We went there along with Sara's sister Annie who was still in town. Walking in, we had no idea what to expect! They instantly covered us with heavy blanket coats and gloves. We walked into the "freezer" that is -5 degrees Celsius -that had walls, floors, and a ceiling of ice!! We ordered a frozen sun drink and it came in a ice cup!! It was one of the coolest bars we both had ever been to. We drank our drinks in a little igloo and actually had to leave about 30 minutes after arriving because our toes were becoming numb! Once we walked outside we couldn't believe how warm it was!

We ventured to the south of Italy for the weekend! Unforunatly the weather didn't cooporate with us too well, but has that ever ruined a vacation for us? Naaa, we still had a blast. (this is a picture of us in front of the Nike store in Termini (the Rome train station) We cannot tell you how many times we met, sat, and waited in this place for transportation. We consider it close to our second home in Rome)

We book our trip through the travel company Bus2Alps- we have done a majority of our trips through them, and it just makes life so much easier to plan everything! We had a short bus ride (4 hours is short to us now) and arrived in Sorrento, Italy late Thursday night. Betsy, Jessie, and Abby (all girls also studying abroad- our friends from Marquette) met us at the hostel! We were exhausted from the long week of school and went to sleep early.

Friday we woke early and went and had a perfect breakfast in the courtyard of the hostel on big comfy couches. It reminded us of being back at school... Our breakfast turned into a 4 hour brunch-it was so fun to be with everyone! Because of the rain, we decided not to go on the trip to pompeii (a ruined and partially buried town from 79 ad) and tested our navigation skills to find little towns around the area.

Surprisingly we made it to the town of Almafi! It was a 2 hour bus ride (that rode right along the edge of a cliff... every turn we thought the bus was going to fall into the ocean!) It was still rainy so we found a "famous" pizza resturant and enjoyed a lunch with all the girls. After we walked around the town only to realize the last bus back to Sorrento was leaving in 10 minutes... go figure.

Made it back to the hostel and got ready for the big group dinner in town. Obviously we were the last ones to arrive and got the last table in the restaurant in the way back. We think they forgot about us for the first half hour, but then it turned into an amazing meal and we were the last ones to leave... Could be from the fact that they gave us Pina Coladas and Margaritas at the end!!

The next day we all went to a beach in the cutest little town called Positano! It was actually sunny this day so we bought towels, Peroni's (Italian beer), and a pinini and found our way to the beach. All our pale skin was instantly shocked from the sunlight- but don't worry, we brought along our 75 SPF. We got the courage to dip our toes into the mediterranean sea and we about died when we realized how cold it actually was. The current was so strong and kept pulling us out, so we decided to play it safe and stick to drinking our beers on the beach...

When we walked back to our towels we realized that we were actually on a top-less beach. We spent the next hour watching every boys reaction as they walked by looking at the girls without tops. It was hilarious how their football would "accidently" land right next to them. After a long day of relaxing at the beach we looked forward to our "mexican" dinner. (Italian mexican food consists of cheese, lettuce, and "tomato sauce" that is trying to be salsa)

The next day we went with the whole group to the little island of Capri!! After boating around the island seeing millionaires houses and cliffs of the Mediterranean Sea we ported at a little dock. After hiking up a long hill (Where we have never witnessed so many girls complaining in our entire life)

we arrived at the "Giardini di Augusto", A beautiful garden on the top of the cliff- great photo opportunity!

We Tasted lemoncello and had homemade fresh pasta for lunch in the small town of Anticapri. The temperature was a little less than idea, so naturally we had to buy some souvenir sweatshirts!! Walking back down to the port, we got side tracked by the screams of some girls. We looked down in the water and saw people cliff jumping into the ocean. We raced down the the private beach and found ourself parked on 3 lawn chairs. Running into the ocean, only to find jellyfish everywhere we decided it would be best to take some naps on the beach. Betsy and Maggie decided to finally just do it- we climbed up some rocks and jumped (or flipped) into the ocean!! So fun!!

We finally packed up everything and hiked upto the bus. The 4 hour bus ride home was full of traffic jams, studying for upcoming finals, and movies. Luckily no one got too sunburnt and everyone made it back safe and sound!

Weekly Update!

Ciao Ciao!!

We have been super busy in our last month in Italy!

1. Both of us have had visitors the past weeks. Maggie's Brother, Andrew and girlfriend Katie, came to Italy for the week. The arrived in Rome and stayed at our apartment for 2 days (luckily our other roommates were in Greece for the weekend-so we had room). We spent both days showing them the lay of the land and visiting all our favorite restaurants (and gelato stands). It was exhausting and exciting to show people where we have lived for the past 4 months! After conquering Rome in 2 action-packed days- we took the train to Florence for Easter!

We met up with Betsy, Jessie, and Amy Mckenny (Betsy's mom!!) We were able to make it to the Piazza Duomo- where we got to witness the "Burst of the Carriage" (this is the most famous ceremony of Florentine Easter that dates back to times of the first crusades.) There was a huge carriage that was carried in by GIGANTIC white Ox. The carriage was then fired with a fuse and there was a explosion of fireworks. (yes, Fireworks for Easter!) What a cool celebration to see!

After the ceremony, we made our way to a italian "Easter brunch." It was so nice to have friends and some family around on a day when you are usually surrounded by your entire family! We enjoyed lunch and toured around Florence for the afternoon. It began to rain, so everyone went back to their apartments/hotels and took a Easter nap. After, we were treated to one of the best dinners we have ever had by the Mckenny's! It is a hole in the wall restaurant in Florence and all the walls were covered with pictures of celebrities who have also dined there- We felt like royalty! It was defiantly a Easter to remember!!

Andrew and Katie left from Florence to begin their week long adventure of Italy- to Venice and then finally ending back in Rome the following Friday!

2. Sara's Mom arrived that Tuesday back in Rome!! Words could not explain the excitement she was feeling!! The rest of Sara's family arrived that Thursday. (Sister Annie, Aunt Marcia, and Cousin Katie) They also, spend a few days touring rome with their pedometer averaging about 8 miles of walking a day!! From there they took a train north and explored Assissie, Capri, Sorento and Ended in Florence where Maggie was with Betsy and Jessie. (More to come...)

3. While sara was off exploring Italy with her family, Maggie, Betsy, and Jessie went to Cinque Terre (which means 5 lands) for the day! It was another breathtaking place!! Its along the Italian Riviera and composed of five villages (Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Monarola, and Riomaggiore.

All these villages surround hillsides of the Mediterranean Sea . Walking paths, boats, and trains connect all the villages going through rugged, steep landscapes that go right up to the cliffs overlooking the sea. It was beautiful! We walked from village to village busying souvenirs and trying all the local food.

4. The Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull (try and say that 3 times fast!) volcano has hindered some travel in Europe. Luckily we have already traveled north this semester and didn't have any trips booked!! The Rome airport is still open, but some flights have been delayed. We are keeping our fingers crossed that Sara's family makes it home okay and Maggie's Parents arrived on time in 2 weeks! School is also pretty empty due to students being stranded up north- hopefully everyone gets home safe!

5. We have noticed a lot lately how crazy Rome has become. We think the tourist season is in full swing. Ever since Easter, our direct path to Old Bridge Gelato has had a few obstacles of tour groups along the way! We were talking the other day how we remember back in January when would walk through St. Peters Square and were the only ones there- so crazy!

6. There are only two weeks of school left- and then one week of finals (yes, we do have finals while studying abroad :( We cannot believe it!! Looking at the calendar we can't even being to imagine where the time has gone. It feels like just yesterday we walked into our apartment for the first time completely clueless!

7. Next weekend Sara, Maggie, and Betsy are going to the Amalfi Coast! This is a stretch of coastline on the Sorrentine Peninsula of Italy! Hopefully it will be full of cliff jumping and laying on the beach all day (sunscreen included). Can't wait to tell you all about it!

Chow Chow,

xoxox

M and S

Spring Break (Nice, France- Paris, France- Amsterdam, Netherlands)

Our Spring break planning was months in the making and started back in January when we first arrived in Rome! We decided we wanted to start in south France, travel to Paris, and then see where that took us traveling with our roomies from Rome, Rima and Audrey, and Betsy and Jessie. We are back to report everything went as planned. Read below for the hilarious adventures of our trip 11 day trip in Europe.

Day 1: Nice, France- “Nice is Nice”

We stayed at the most amazing Hostel yet! Villa Saint Exupery (rated one of the top hostels in the world). Was a cute villa up in the hills of Nice where the whole staff was from Australia. We woke up, took a shuttle downtown (Luckily we bought tickets because our tram was raided by the Police!) where we found a cute fresh flower and fruit market. We bought lunches consisting of a French baguette, pesto sauce, strawberries, and cheese and made our way to the beach in bikini’s! Found a spot up against the wall where the “rock beach” sand was semi-soft and didn’t move until 5pm that evening when the sun was setting. The Mediterranean sea was too cold to swim in, but it was beautiful to look at!

Around sunset we walked up to a lookout point where we could see the entire city and the sun setting over it (while an accordion player was playing music in the background) Perfect photo opportunity!! That night we ventured to a popular bar (Waynes) where dancing on the tables was the standard and a live band played American songs all night long (Including Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You”

Day2: Eze, France- “KABOBS”

Took a bus from Nice to the base of a mountain to begin a 45 minute hike to Eze. We were told to get food at the bottom of the hill because the restaurants in Eze can be quite pricy. We found a sandwich shop and got some Kabobs. We asked the worker there if 1 sandwich was enough to share. She looked at us “Americans” and said we each needed our own. When they were finally ready, she brought out sandwiches that were almost up Sara’s waist!! (about 3 people could have shared 1) We got to work on our sandwiches, making frequent stops (about every 5 minutes) to take a bite. About 8 minutes into our hike, a serious looking hiker coming down the trial said in words of encouragement “Boy, your girls have a LOOONG hike ahead of you.”We weren’t feeling too good once we were deep into the hike. We decided to ditch our sandwiches, after eating about a third of them, and got into real hiker mode. We continued searching to Eze. Somehow we found our way to the top, without any troubles. We walked around the cute little town of Eze window shopping and were ready to relax back in Nice.

For dinner we followed the advice of Rick Steves to go to a local rugby restaurant, L'Occitanie. To our luck, there was a big game going on that night, but no worries, there was 1 table open for us…right under the TV. We enjoyed and amazing meal consisting of steak and potatoes for only 9 euro, and one of the best desserts yet (or at least until we get to Paris). The staff was so friendly and we ended our day with a evening walk on the boardwalk!

Day 3: Monaco, France- “Casinos Casinos Casinos”

Sprinting in the train station, we nearly missed our train to Monaco! Somehow we all barely made it on and arrived into the ritzy country of Monaco! (2nd smallest country in the world- behind out neighbor Vatican City) You should have seen the people walking around us- everyone just screamed money. We walked into the city past rows of yachts, million-dollar cars, and every designer shop you could imagine. Making it finally to the Monte Carlo Casino in our dresses and poker faces on, ready to test our luck at the slots. We then realized it didn’t open until 2pm.

So how about a quick, cheap lunch break?! In Monaco, cheap really isn’t a word in people’s vocabulary. We finally found a place where the meals weren’t above 30 euro per plate. We enjoyed a delicious lunch, then after we made our way to the casino. At the casino, we decided to not get too daring and stick to the penny slots. We all came out about even, and considered it a successful day. We easily made it back to Nice, and did a little shopping. That night we realized we were very sad to leaving Nice, but excited to see what kind of adventures are to come in Paris…

Day 4: Paris, France- “TOURING THE CITY”

We got up early in Nice and board the flight to Paris. We had about an hour train ride from the city to the airport, then we had to use the metro to get to our hostel…such city girls. Our hostel appeared to be very nice-St. Christopher’s Inn hostel. The only problem was that it was a little outside the city, but we still managed to get around just fine. After checking into the hostel, our friend Blake, a sophomore at Marquette also studying abroad, met us and we started out into Paris!!

We took the metro and came out staring right at the Louvre Museum. Walking over to the glass pyramid was beautiful! It was such a nice day outside- so we sat on the fountain and soaked in our surroundings. Eventually we entered the museum only to realized, its free admission for all European students! How great!! Found the Mona Lisa in a room of her own surrounded by people (it was kind of crazy) but very cool to see nonetheless.

Not really having much interest in spending the whole day in the museum we left and walked through Les Tuileries- the most central park in Paris. (Seeing our first site of the Eiffel Tower- Goosebumps!!) It stretches from the Louvre to the Place de la Concorde. We approached the Arc de Triomphe and got some French bread to munch on.

Finally wondering through the streets we found the Eiffel Tower!! It was the most amazing thing we have seen and looked better in person than any postcard we have ever seen. We were approached by about 15 different middle-eastern guys who had sculptures of the Eiffel Tower for sale yelling in our faces “good price, good price” but as our moms keep telling us- “no buying junk!” so we resisted.

After staring in awe for about an hour we took a metro over to the Notre Dame church. Luckily when we entered into it church has just started so we sat down and had Eucharist in the Notre Dame Church. (A little change from St. Margaret Mary’s and St. Vincent De Paul- our parishes at home)

Finally made our way to the “Latin Quarter” district and ate at a cute family owned restaurant then took the metro back “home” to our hostel…

Day 5: Paris, France- “Eiffel Tower turns into DOOMS DAY”

Woke up egar to start another day in Paris. Locked up all our belongings in the lockers provided and headed out for the Eiffel Tower. Again, being harassed by all the men trying to see mini steel Eiffel Towers to us and Gypsies everywhere (asking us “you speak engligh??!”), we held our purses tight and made our way to the short line at the tower. Karma must have been on our side because the line to walk to the top was super short! We started the 1665 step hike to the top, excited to hopefully see a marriage proposal on the way. Made it finally to the top (Sara’s fear of heights didn’t help the situation much- but she survived!)

Paris looked so beautiful and we could see up to 40 miles away from the top! Talking millions of breath taking pictures we then left and went to the Jewish Quarter where there is amazing shopping and good Chinese food (who woulda thought!)

Had a little pricy lunch due to the fact that we didn’t understand the ordering process and shopped in the afternoon. Once it got dark we made our way back to the Eiffel Tower to see the light show! On the hour, every hour, the Eiffel Tower does a 5 minute light show and it was unbelievable! So pretty glowing in the night. We finally made our way home in great spirits from everything we witnessed that day. Nothing could made us upset, so we thought….

We did have ONE misfortunate thing happen when we were in Paris….We barge into our hostel room in high spirits after such a fun day in Paris. We go on and on telling our roommates in the hostel how great our day was and so on. After about 10 straight minutes of talking their ear off they look at us and say “So I’m assuming you haven’t heard the news yet?”.They go on to explain that someone has broken into our hostel and went through all of our belongings and broke through our locks. They stole our roommate’s brand new mac books pro computer, and our other roommates new I touch. A few other things got stolen from the other people in our room too. We both got very lucky to have had everything valuable with us that day, so nothing got stolen. Either way, we still thought it was very creepy that a stranger had gone through all of our clothes and decided to throw them everywhere. We keep reminding ourselves how lucky it was that no one was in the room when he decided to break into it!

After taking with the manager, he decided to give us a refund on our room rates and we had free food and drinks at the bar that night…

Day 6: Paris, France- “yummmm”

Because of the events that happened yesterday, Audrey our roommate decided to leave Paris early and went onto London to visit her boyfriend and Rima had to attend the police station all day to fill out police reports so Maggie, Sara, Betsy, and Jessie started the day with shopping and wandering around Paris. Had lunch at a cute sideway café and made it to the Orsay museum. The artwork was everything we had learned about since grade school (Edgar Degas, Vincent van Gogh, Leonardo Da Vinci, Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso, Etc.) After the getting lost in tour groups in the museum, we were on a mission to find the famous dessert place La Dauree (this is famous because is it the company that made all the desserts in the movie Marie Antoinette!!)

It was decorated like an old English castle with the best desserts we had ever seen. After eating our desserts which was a taste of 10 minutes of heaven- we wondered down the main street and walked through some fancy stores such as Louis Vuitton, PRADA, Christian Louboutin, and Chanel. Found our way to the Metro and took it to the famous stop, The Moulin Rouge!

Right off the metro, we knew this was a different part of Paris we had yet to see. We took our pictures and left before it got too dark out!!

Day 7: Paris, France- “Then there were three”

This was our last day in one of the most beautiful cities we have ever seen!! Betsy and Jessie left us to go off to Prague to meet friends from High school. The only 3 remaining on the trip was Maggie, sara and our roomie Rima. We started off the rainy day walking over to The Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Paris, commonly known as Sacré-Cœur Basilica. It started to rain for the first time since we had been in Paris (talk about good timing) So we took the metro back to the Latin Quarter and had the best lunch to date. We ate at a place called ptitgibus café. They serve every kind of Crepe you could image.

We had a “lunch” crepe filled with meat and cheese and veggies then had a nutella and banana one for dessert. IT WAS AMAZING! After a long relaxing lunch, Rima left us to go to more museum (she is a art major) Sara and Maggie both were kind of “burnt out” of museum - so we decided to wander around and go shopping. How lucky- we had an entire day to ourselves to just relax and wander the streets of Paris!! Finally made our way back to the hostel and started to pack for our final journey of spring break. AMSTERDAM!!

Day 8: Amsterdam, Netherlands- “loony town”

Arrived into Amsterdam into the Flying Pig youth hostels uptown. It was such a different feel that any other hostel we have ever been to- it was super relaxed and chill. We dropped off out bags in our 5^th floor room (yes, we had to walk up the worlds smallest staircase to get there.)

Immediately we walked straight to the Heineken Brewery tour- we were in for a treat. It was so much fun! We walked through the history of how a beer is made- then we were actually made into a beer (a 4-D experience… similar to a IMAX) After we learned the proper way to drink their beer and played with their interactive bar tables. (highlight of the tour) after making friends and trying on everything in the souvenir shop we decided to have some lunch and visit famous museums in Amsterdam.

We walked though the red light district during the day- because we were scared to see what it looked like during the night! What a crazy place Amsterdam is. Walking home we found a Mexican restaurant we couldn’t deny! We have been having withdraws from Mexican since being in Rome! Made our way back to the hostel and realized that we were sharing a room with 6 other guys from London celebrating a birthday. How perfect…

Day 9: Amsterdam, Netherlands “Tour de Amsterdam”

After eating our free breakfast at the hostel we walked over to a park where you can rent bikes for a whole day. Buying insurance (you never know what will happen with us) we had to do a few practice runs before we could take on the real streets of Amsterdam. We went over to the Anne Frank house and waited in line for about 30 minutes talking to a cute couple who met studying abroad and now live in Germany! The tour through Anne Frank house was really interesting and sad. It was surprisingly bigger than we thought it was going to be. It sad to think that people had to live in complete dark for 4 years- all the windows were blocked out and there were hiding rooms everywhere.

After the tour we rode to the famous Pancake bakery. This whole trip we have only talked about food- but here is another winner. Like the crepes, we had a lunch pancake and then a dessert with apples and cinnamon. Nothing short than amazing. After lunch we continued on our bike tour blending in with the locals, sat in a park by the Van Gogh museum, and soaked up Amsterdam. It was such an amazing city!! Hope to return here again someday!

Day 10: Travel day home- “Home Sweet Rome”

Found our way to the Amsterdam airport after receiving horrible directions to the bus stop from the hostel. (We think they wrote them while being blindfolded!)

Our Plane was delayed about a hour- we were perfectly content just sitting in the airport "people watching" but leave it to the Italians in their Puffy Coats to freak out. They were all pacing back a forth yelling in Italian. It was complete chaos- but enjoyable to watch. This was just a preview of what we were returning to in Rome! We finally boarded our flight and return to our Home. Exhaustion doesn't even begin to describe how we felt!

It was so nice to return to our apartment and actually felt good to be in our single sized cots... who would have thought we would ever say that!