Mexico v. SA

World Cup started. It is so fun to be in a country where soccer is such a major part of their culture. And with the World Cup happening, the city seems to be more alive than ever.

The week after our break, we made a trip to the 1 Mexican food restaurant in Florence to watch the Mexicans battle with the host country, South Africa. The restaurant was packed full with some of the Florentine Mexican population, and us. But our buddy Armando represented our US neighbors well.


The game was exciting, and the crowd was great. We enjoyed some nachos and had a blast cheering.

Giorno numero quattro

The next morning we woke up and spent the beginning of the day on shore. Because the boat was scheduled to leave in the afternoon, we only had a few hours to enjoy on land. We stayed close to the port, and decided to explore the area. The water and rocks were gorgeous near the lighthouse. The water was irresistible and the next thing we knew, a few of us had jumped in. We had fun exploring, jumping off rocks, and wandering around.



Eventually it was time to head back, and the rest of the day we spent relaxing by the pool, playing board games, and simply enjoying the last day of the trip.
We loved the cruise, and at 6am that next morning, we were off to the airport in an effort to make our Monday afternoon classes!

Day 3 at Sea

Mi dispiace, non ho scritto ultimamente. Ma, ero molto occupato.

I have been super busy lately with school, but for a little study break, i thought it might be smart to update this blog of mine.

The third day of our cruise was spent primarily on the boat because we were in route to Ibiza, Spain. Great opportunity to take advantage of all the on deck entertainment right? We had a great breakfast, and caught some sun by the pool. We also explored the rock climbing wall and minigolf courses! It was a great relaxing day, but still occupied with plenty of activities!


One of the day's highlights was when Eric was entered into a poolside male "bullfighter" contest. Men were gathered, each representing a different country, and were instructed to perform a dance/routine for judges. Eric was great, he earned loud cheers, whooops and hollers. And the judges named him "macho bull!"

We arrived in Ibiza at around 5 that evening, after grabbing a nice dinner, we all started to prepare for our evening on the Island. Ibiza is known for its "over the top" nightlife. Listening to suggestions from friends who have visited, we decided to spend our evening at a nightclub called Privilege, The biggest nightclub in the world. If you only have one night there, I guess we have to "go big or go home" right? The night was successful. It was great getting to see the venue, and music. We all had a great time, and were even home before sunrise!

Day 2 of the Weekend on a Boat

Morning time: time to wake up, step out on the balcony and enjoy the breeze of the Mediterranean. Next stop: Omelets. Having not enjoyed a hot breakfast for a month or so, the breakfast buffet, with made to order omelets was a huge hit. The boat had been traveling during the night, so after breakfast we were able to step ashore in the south of France. We visited a small port town across from Toulin, walked the streets, visited the market and got a small taste of the French lifestyle. The town was small, and very cute, full of colorful buildings and a friendly atmosphere. The port filled with sailboats was beautiful. I especially loved the environment of the town because of its laid back attitude.

(haha, don't ask what I was doing in this one, WHO KNOWS)

We spent several hours on shore enjoying the afternoon sun, and new culture. Deciding to take advantage of our free lunch waiting on the ship, some of us returned to the boat an hour or so early to grab some grub and enjoy the pools on deck.



The second night on the boat was "Formal Dinner". Time to dress up! We all showered after our sunshine filled day, and went down a few floors to our designated dining room table. Professional photos were taken of each group as they entered the dining room...

And of course we took some pictures of our own as well. We especially loved dinner time, not just because of the amazing plate selection, but we shared a table with a family of three from England. They were very "delightful" to sit with each night, and their 4 year old daughter was darling. It was fun to talk with them, and I think they equally enjoyed our presence. They were always eager to hear about our day, and what we had been up to.

After our formal dinner we spent the rest of the evening at a dance show as well as a short time at Jesters. The boat left France early that evening, expecting to arrive in Ibiza, Spain the next afternoon.

Long Weekend on a Boat

Before I start to post about my most recent weekend, I should say that it was incredible. Never before have I really imagined myself aboard a cruise ship, especially not one with 5 friends in the Mediterranean Sea. Well, crazy things happen. As our long weekend approached, students in the house juggled their studies with booking travel reservations for our one extended weekend. Where will you go? For how long? How will you get there? Who will come with you? What will you do? etc etc etc. Now, it might not seem THAT difficult, but when juggling your plans and ideas with several other students who have just as much to say about it...it can get stressful. So, after talk of Paris, Croatia, Portugal, and various others destinations, a friend found a 4 day cruise... for $250. Welp, that sounds pretty good to me, after wanting to pull my hair out trying figure out destinations, lodging and travel methods, a cruise, with predetermined destinations, and provided lodging, food and travel sounded amazing. Especially for such a great price! The plus: The cruise left from Barcelona and visited Toulin, France and Ibiza, Spain before returning to Bacelona! I have always wanted to visit Spain, especially Barcelona and Ibiza, so the trip couldn't get more appealing. It was my first cruise, and a great one at that! Travel was booked to and from Barcelona, and I was ready to board on Thursday. We arrived in Barcelona on Thursday morning, and got to wander the streets and experience a bit of the city before boarding the ship. The few hours that i spent in the city definitely gave me a travel bug to come back, the atmosphere and culture were truly enjoyable.

We had booked three two person rooms, all inside cabins, to keep the cost low. But, after arriving on Thursday, we found that our rooms had been upgraded to balcony rooms! We were blessed with waking up to the mediterranean sea out our back door for the next four mornings :)

A few hours after boarding the cruise, and exploring its 14 decks, we enjoyed our first of 4 delicious 3 course meals. The dinner took place in a formal three level dining room. I was already feeling very spoiled!

We spent the remainder of our evening exploring the boat and its various nighttime entertainment. We stopped by a Welcoming Musical performance, and visited a few bars as well as the on deck club, "Jesters". It was really funny to see the atmosphere of the cruise, we quickly realized that besides children under the age of 15, we were younger than most passengers by at least 10 years...if not 50! The club was especially entertaining, with music from our generation playing in a loud and busy atmosphere, we were shocked to find many dancers on the floor were older than our parents. Despite the strange demographic, we had fun, and were definitely entertained!

OOO Pretty Pisa

With previous travel plans suddenly canceled due to a train strike, my weekend plans were now free! I am sure that we could have rallied some troops and gotten ourselves extra awesome, but then we realized midterms were coming.... This weekend was not to be fun fun fun, but instead focused on studying and memorizing dozens and dozens and dozens of artworks, artists and eras. This IS why we are here right?
Well, we spent a good, relaxing weekend catching up on sleep, studying and enjoying Florence for what it is. Come Saturday afternoon, JJ, Armando and I were a little antsy, so we picked up and visited the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa. We had been warned that the town of Pisa was not the most entertaining place, but arriving at the square right off the train, Pisa seemed like a ghost town! We set out towards the Tower, exploring the streets as we paved our own route to get there.
Well, we found all the people of Pisa, they were allllll at the tower. Surprise Surprise. Time to join the crowd and get creative with our photography skills. The three of us took about 45 minutes worth of pictures. Different poses, different angles, different people, etc etc. This one might be one of the best... clearly we are professionals right?

Welp, got that checked off the tourist list! Back to the train station for the hour long ride back to the study sessions.