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!