Tuesday

Tuesday afternoon we 'hiked' to the top of the Duomo, the big dome in the middle of the city. It is amazing. The walk to the top was pretty hard, not just because of the nearly 500 steps, but more because it was super claustrophobic with the walk way up being like three feet wide and built with concrete and bricks hundreds and hundreds of years ago. So I kept thinking 'earthquake' the whole time I was going up....you can see in one of the pictures I took of us walking up how narrow it can be. The view from the top was amazing.......I posted this pics too.






Later that night....
the Barry students & neighbors dropped the ball on their night of hosting a dinner....so, LAST MINUTE (we're talking 7PM of a 7:30PM dinner) we were told no potluck, even though they were fixing dinner for themselves! A little bummed because I started this tradition the first week and it was a fun Tuesday thing, they wanted in on it and we let them join...and they mucked it up :(

We went to this restaurant across the alley/street from our apartment and it was awesome!!! For 15 Euro....you get a selection of different dishes, etc..for example...
All for that price, I got two glasses of wine, espresso, water (you pay for that here, that is why I am listing it..lol), noodles with a bolognese sauce, glass of champagne, a 'starter' that was like a bread and tomato concoction, chicken with cheese curds, and bread...it was great that the prices were so good and we got course after course,,,,plus the champagne and the starter bread/tomato dish was complimentary, that is nice!
okay, enough about food.

So afterwards we came back to the apartments and the girls (Lindsey really wasn't pumped, but the rest of the girls were) dying to go out to their and Pat's favorite discoteca "Space Electronica" LOL! It is pretty fun, but I think they have been there five times already. Pat loves the Karaoke, Jen loves the cages on the dance floor..and after last night Natalie is a fan of 'taking a nap' on the toilet paper dispenser in the bathroom and also taking a nap in the booths at Karaoke.

The songs sung last night,,,,I'm trying to remember,
I know I did Elton John "Your Song" and not sure what the other one was.
Pat and Natalie were dying to do Alladin songs! lol, no dice
Pat & Brian did boy band songs again.
Pat did Enrique Iglesias "Hero"

Here are pictures from the night, note the last picture of Natalie on the bench. Seriously, she was not passed out, she just takes these random naps when we go out! LOL she is nuts.

Mondays in Florence!

So yesterday was awesome (after class of course).
BJ and I got home around 1PM, we stopped and got stuff to make cheeseburgers, greatest idea yet! LOL I know we are surrounded by the best pasta, bread, pizza, focaccia paninis, etc...but, just like you crave a bowl of pasta every once in awhile in the states, we were craving a burger! (we weren't the only ones, very jealous students and teachers at the school when they heard that we were doing that) :)
So that was delicious, then Pat came home and we all went to Indiana Jones movie. the new one. Professor Treuthart (director of the program) was SOOO great to us. She got us a student discount on the tickets and organized a group to go, almost everyone from the program was there! The movie was fun, it was cool to see an American film in an Italian theater! Very different experience, first of all..us dumb Americans did the typical, fill up a water bottle with booze and sneak it in, or a beer, or a juice box of wine (yes they have juice box wines, like the little juice boxes with the straws glued to it, they sell those with wine here, genius!)
But once we got there we realized the theater has a full bar. ha. So, we saved money though. It was fun to drink a beer in a movie and not be sneaky about it. So we all got a little 'lit up' during the movie.
It was really cool too, apparently in Italy they put in an intermission. So, even though it was only like 1:45 minutes long, there was an intermission, which is great for people like me who like to stretch, pee a lot, and take another trip to the bar, lol!
here are pics from the movie outing...









SO, after the movie we all went to Professor Treuthart's apartment! Her, Professor Ballard and Professor Farid went to the store and bought 10 bottles of wine, tons of cheese, meats, crackers, etc! It was great!
Her apartment was amazing, top floor, awesome view of Florence. Here are pics from the post movie wine and cheese party :)
(Thanks again treuthart, ballard and farid for setting that up..especially Treuthart, it takes a brave person to let all of us rummage around their place) Plus your stories last night were phenomenal! It takes a lot to make me blush ... it was nice to know that I can share anything with you...the unshockable Professor Treuthart! :)














At 10 we got kicked out and almost everyone came back to our complex, where there are three units taken by GU Law study abroad students. So we bounced around from apartment to apartment drinking and chatting. At some point Lindsey and I went out to the street so she could buy some more wine, we tried to bargain with the illegal fake sellers, I always wanted to know how low I could go with them, after a few bottles of wine I maybe was a little too cocky with how low I could go. lol! I was with Lindsey and was bargaining for her for this Luis Vuitton bag, I started at 10 and wouldn't budge...he wasn't having it. lol! But this other guy chased us down this alley and tried to sell her this fake Fendi bag for 10 euro. We said no. lol He goes "how much then" and I go "get us that Luis bag from the other guy for 10 euro and we'll talk."
We then proceeded to the wine place, so Lindsey could get some fancy 5 euro bottles of wine! The place was shut down and the dude was just locking the front door and Lindsey pleaded with him to let her buy one thing, in typical Italian fashion the guy was nice and let us in and turned everything back on....so that was nice of him.
We came back...

There was some vodka involved somewhere and possibly Jaegermeister, LOL! So, I """fell asleep""", BJ ""fell asleep"" fully clothed,,,,I somehow got a shower in!
Pat, Lindsey and Jennifer's friend from out of town decided to go out wandering the streets. They wanted Kebabs (my new favorite 'fast' food), so Lindsey remembered she had a business card in her purse from this Kebab place we went to on Sunday, so she called the number thinking it was a business number. Well, the creepy guy behind the counter answered and it was his cell phone apparently. So they asked if the kebab place was open, he said no but asked where they were because he knew of some that were. They were near the duomo, so he came up in his vespa and Lindsey apparently jumped on! LOL
He led them to a kebab place and they came home. Keep in mind this was all told to me by Jennifer's friend, because I was not there and all Pat remembers is leaving the apartment to go walking, doesn't remember any details after that but when he woke up he could still taste the kebab in his mouth. So he knew they got food. lol!

oh well :) fun times had by all. here are the pics from last night..post movie, post wine/cheese party...







So, today we had class, it was my turn to lead the class discussion, I think I did good ... talked to fast, but that could be attributed to the Red Bull I had :)
Here are some random pics from class, it is nice that our class with Professor Ballard only has like 10 students! It is great....




We are going to see the Duomo and climb to the top of it here in about 30 minutes. We were doing a wine tasting through the school, but it got postponed. So we are not sure what we are doing after Duomo, probably studying diligently :)
The kids from Barry Law, who live in our apartment complex, wanted to get on this weekly dinner thing. But thought combining three apartments would be too much of a strain on the hosting party. So we are doing a pot luck instead. I think the Barry kids are doing sangria and something else, the girls are bringing pasta al pesto. I'm not sure what we are doing yet...maybe some bread and a salad.

So, I'm sure the pics from the duomo and pot luck will be up later! Ciao!!!!

Randoms & Candids....

Festival of the Republic

Today is a national holiday in Italy! The town is basically shut down, the undergrad study abroad has the day off, the law school???? Damn American Bar Association and their classroom-minutes requirements!
We have class....they had to bring in some special lady to open the school up for us, she was not happy. lol

oh well, tonight we are all going as a big group to see Indiana Jones, heard seeing an American movie in Italy is pretty fun. They got us very cheap tickets, plus afterwards the director and professor of the program, Mary Pat Truethart, will be having us all over to her place for wine and cheese following the film!

fun.

okay, off to the first class of the day, Happy Festival of the Republic!

Answers

So some of the Polls we did for the trip on the right hand side have already expired, in the sense that the answer has already passed...so I am closing those and giving you the answer to what happened....

What we will get annoyed with first on the trip?
Your guys' choice: First-Exchange Rate Second-Eachother
Answer: EXCHANGE RATE!

What are not going to miss when studying abroad?
Your guys split nearly evenly on all of them.
Answer: ALL OF THEM :)

What are we going to miss when we are studying abroad?
You guys split between Jack and Dans and Family!
Answer: ...obviously Family! (close with friends)

Who is likely to get hurt physically?
Your guys answer: Overwhelmingly went to BJ
Answer: PAT! In Rome...two famous quotes from the next morning "I broke my face" and "My Kidneys hurt" ON A SIDE NOTE, This may not be fair because the jet lag kicked BJ's ass and he stayed in bed the first night we hit it party-time hard in Rome, so....Pat may have got this because of circumstances beyond his control, who knows...after a pub crawl BJ could have been claiming his face was broken the next morning :) But for the record books, PAT.

How likely is it Sean will get kicked out of the Vatican?
Your guys' answer: Somewhat Likely tied with They Wont Let Him In
Answer: Neither!! I got in and did not get kicked out, I was 'hurting' a little bit that day so maybe it was simply the fact that I was not in typical Sean form. But maybe being at the most holy sites in the Catholic religion, it was good that I was not in typical Sean form :)

Will BJ make it to his Bday?
Your guys answer: Anything is likely
Answer: He did :) what a trooper! Could have been attributed to Pat holding his hair back the night before in some corner of Cinque Terre as he got ..umm..motion sickness??? :) But he survived!! Thank God.

Who will be the first person to cry?
Your guys answer: Even tie between all three
Answer: No one...yet!!! So that one will remain posted.

Okay, off to bed. I removed the polls, and will supplement them with new ones soon.

Ciao!

BJ's first time!!!!!!! (and it is on camera)

Much to nearly everyone's shock and disgust, we had realized 2 1/2 weeks into the trip that BJ had never tried Gelato!!! (For those who haven't tried it, it is a denser and much more creamier and flavorful version of Ice Cream)
They have Gelato stores on nearly every single block, many with multiple stores!

So tonight, during a study break Pat and I drug BJ out to get some. (BJ is not a big ice cream guy, so he was not super pumped)

He got mint chocolate chip, Pat got an Nuetella flavored one and I think an espresso or tiramisu, something like that....I got a caramel one, oh God mine was good!! :)
We took some pics, because that is what I do.

Enjoy, we sure did...congrats BJ for joining our club of Gelato eaters!

Studying!

So, for all the parents out there we wanted to post these pictures of us studying! Today Pat, myself and Lindsey Wehmeyer took to the steps of the Basilica of Santa Croce today to do our reading for class....then the girls joined us at the school to print off some articles and cases for an upcoming paper, and we joined BJ later today at the apartment for some more studying! :) we are diligent students!

Piazzale Del Michelangelo

Yesterday me and the boys went here, it looks over the entire city of florence and is just awesome! It is an amazing view, really gorgeous walk, you can bus it but if you are capable of the walk, it is well worth it! Here are some pics we took up there...








On our walk up and back we walked along the Arno river, that passes through Florence. We live a few blocks north of the river, so it is very close and really pretty on a sunny day.

Sunday in Florence

Today is our big study day!

We have outlines due tomorrow for our paper. Which means most of our research should be done, so that is how we will be spending today.

Last night was fun, for the last two nights we have sort of split up all going in different directions and hanging out with different crews. For no bad reason, just all wanted to do different things,,,,IE, hanging out chill, going to dance clubs, american pub, etc. So that has sort of been fun, exploring the city alone..well., not always.but you get the idea.

The piazzas are PACKED during the nights, like last night Pat was saying at 4AM Piazza Santa Croce was totally packed with people drinking beers on the steps, kids playing football in the square, etc... Pretty cool scene,...

I took these pics of the churches and statues as I was walking back last night...pretty cool and sort of creepy in some of the quieter piazzas, like Piazza Signoria, all alone essentially with these thousand year old statues all seeming to look at you, lol!