Thanksgiving in Perugia!

Ciao!

I hope everyone back home had a wonderful Thanksgiving day!  I hope you all ate too much and enjoyed watching the parade or the football game of your choice.  Even though I am in Italy, I was able to live stream the Macy's Parade on the internet and watch a half an hour of it and I also ate way too much!

On Thanksgiving night after we had all finished our classes for the day a group of us met at my friend Matt and Kaitlin's apartment to have our Thanksgiving dinner.  There were about 15 of us, including Matt's parents, sister, and grandmother who came over from Long Island, New York to spend a few days with Matt on their Thanksgiving breaks.

The menu included lemon chicken, green bean casserole, baked corn, mashed potatoes, homemade applesauce, stuffing, cranberry sauce, steamed vegetables, and 4 different desserts.  I think it's safe to say we all ate way too much but it was the best meal I have had in a long time.  It was also nice to be around my Perugia family that day as many of us including myself were really homesick that day.  It was definitely a Thanksgiving day I will never forget.

Here are some pictures of our meal....

My plate....

 

Breanne with her amazing baked corn....

 

Kym's apple pie for dessert....

 

It's hard to believe but I will home in less than 3 weeks!!  This Tuesday night we have a meeting here at Umbra to discuss our transition back to America.  It's odd to think I will have to be readjusted to a place I have lived all of my life.  But this meeting is the first step to leaving Perugia :(

I hope everyone has a wonderful week and I will update again soon!

Italian word of the post:

    tacchino - turkey

Morgan :)

Harry Potter Weekend in London!

Ciao!

Sorry I haven't posted sooner but I have been very busy since returning to Perugia on Sunday afternoon.  I have a lot of papers to write and many presentations to prepare for.  And my professors keep reminding me that my time in Perugia is almost up which makes me very sad to say the least.

But this past weekend was perhaps my favorite weekend that I have had abroad so far.  As I said in my last blog entry I went to London from last Thursday afternoon until Sunday morning with 4 of my friends.  We left Thursday afternoon on a train to the Rome FCO airport.  We got to the airport 3 hours early so we had plenty of time to wait.  Our flight took off at 9 pm without a hitch and we landed in London at 10:30 pm local time.  When the plane was landing the pilot came over the loud speaker and said quite an interesting statement.  As we landed just before the Harry Potter movie was released at midnight and our airline was London based the pilot said "flight attendants prepare for landing, witches on your broomsticks".  My friend Kaitlin and I looked at each other with puzzled looks bu the British man sitting next to us said he heard the same thing.  At that point Kaitlin and I got so excited and at that point it hit us that we were in London, the home of Harry Potter!

We arrived at our hostel in Victoria around 1 am and we went right to bed because we had a long day ahead of us.  But before going to bed we had to get "in" our beds.  I say it this way because our room had triple decker beds!  I was on the very very top of the bunk with Kaitlin in the middle and Matt on the bottom.  Breanne and Jessica both got the bottoms of other bunks.  It was an experience to say the least and I am very glad the beds were bolted to the floor because it was a haul to get into my bed.  We had to take pictures for people to believe these triple decker beds....

We got up the next morning and got on the tube (London subway system) and went to the O2, a large arena just outside London.  The O2 is the home of many concerts and sporting events and will most likely host some Olympic events when the 2012 Summer games are held in London.  Our reason for going to the O2 was not a sporting event or concert but the Titanic exhibition which was currently being held there.  There were no photos allowed so I am sorry for the lack of photos but the exhibition was amazing!  It is the same exhibit that travels around the United States so if you ever have a chance please go and see it.  We got to see many items that have been recovered from the ocean floor including money, White Star Line tickets, and plates that were in whole pieces.  It was amazing to see these items up close and personal and as I am a fan of the story of Titanic it was really interesting to me.  We also got to "touch the iceberg", not the original one of course, but the exhibit has a large slab of ice that is the same temperature (-2 degrees Celsius) as the iceberg was when the Titanic hit.

After visiting the exhibit we grabbed lunch and headed to see some famous bridges in downtown London.  We saw the Tower Bridge, London Bridge, and Millennium Bridge.  The Tower Bridge is the most famous in London as it is seen in many famous photographs.

 

The London Bridge is the less picturesque bridge but is famous from the children song of course.  And no, it  is not falling down :)

 

The final bridge of interest to us has a Harry Potter connection but more on that in a minute.  The Millennium Bridge was built for the Millennium and has the infamous nickname of the wobbly bridge.  It is called this because the government was way over budget for the bridge and it is very unsteady.  In fact we saw an article in a newspaper about the bridge needing more repairs to prepare for the 2012 Olympic games.  But the Harry Potter movie also shows this bridge in the 6th movie in the opening scene.  In the movie the bridge is destroyed (kind of playing on the wobbly thing).  We crossed over the bridge and took many photos of us wobbling on the bridge.  Here is a picture of the Millennium Bridge with St. Paul's cathedral in the backround.

 

It was getting pretty dark at this point on Friday so we decided to head over to King's Cross Station and look for the famous platform 9 and 3/4 from the Harry Potter books.  This platform exists in the books and is used by the students to go to and from school.  A few years ago the platform was built in the actual train station to attract Harry Potter fans from all over the world.  Unfortunately, the train station is currently under construction and we could not find the platform.  I guess I will have to go back and find it someday.  We did take a picture in the train station between platforms 9 and 10 though....

 

On Saturday morning we woke up early because we were seeing "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1" in Chelsea at 9:45 am.  We took the tube to the theater and we were right on time for the movie.  The movie was 5 minutes short of 3 hours and it was amazing!  To see the movie in London was something I will never forget as part of the movie was filmed in central London.  At one point in the movie the actors were in a part of London we were the night before and we all got so excited at this!  And the movie was so amazing, as I am sure any Harry Potter fan will agree with me.  

After the movie we took the tube to Central London and visited Regent's Park.  The park is a nice quiet place outside the city.  It's a nice place for a walk or to just sit on a bench and enjoy the day.  It's a nice getaway from the business of London.  We saw many pretty flowers that were amazingly still in bloom and many fountains as well.

 

Here is my roommate Jessica and I in Regent's Park....

 

After visiting Regent's Park we headed back into the city to see the famous sights of London.  We saw Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, the London Eye, and Buckingham Palace.  When we got to Buckingham Palace the flag was flying indicating that the Queen was home.  Unfortunately, she didn't come out to see us so I have not photos of the Queen.  We also hoped to see the newly engaged Prince William but he didn't come out to greet us either.  Speaking of the royal engagement, during our time in London we saw many magazine and newspaper covers about the the prince and his fiancee.  We even saw a billboard on a truck that read "Congratulations Kate and William on your engagement".  Unfortunately I couldn't get a picture as the truck was moving too quickly.  But it was still really neat to be in the city after such a big announcement was made only 2 days before we arrived.  And yes, I did buy a magazine about the royal engagement in case you were wondering.  It's going to be safely packed in my suitcase back to the US.  And my friends and I have been thinking we should return to London for the royal wedding in April of next year!  Here are some pictures of the sights of London....

 

Katlin, Breanne, and I with the London Eye....

 

Buckingham Palace with the British flag telling us the Queen is home....

 

Even though it looks so dark in the picture I need to tell you that this picture was taken around 4:15 in the afternoon, thank you daylight savings time in London.  After visiting the palace we decided we should get some traditional British cuisine for our final night in London.  So we headed to a British pub located near our hostel.  I had traditional fish n chips and it was amazing!  It was the best meal I have had in a long time.  

When we left the restaurant we stopped to get some caramel hot chocolate at Starbucks to get warm before going to Piccadilly Circus and Regent's Street.  We took the tube to Regent's Street to look at some Christmas lights and it was an impressive display.  Each street seemed to have a different theme and it really got us all into the Christmas spirit.  Here is Regent's Street with the "Narnia" theme lights....

 

 

 Here is Carnaby Street with its space themed Christmas lights....

 

 

We made it the whole way down and Regent's Street and made it to Piccadilly Circus.  I had never been there but it is a place I had wanted to visit on this trip to London.  It is essentially the Times Square of Europe with lots of billboards, lights, street performers, and theaters.  Here is the main billboard in Piccadilly Circus....

 

By this point on Saturday night we were frozen to the core.  We decided to head back to our hostel and get warm and also get a few hours of sleep since we had to be up at 2:30 the next morning to get to Gatwick airport in time for our 7 am flight back to Rome.  We made it to the airport without any problems and we landed in Rome at 10:30 am.  We made it back to Perugia around 4:30 pm on Sunday afternoon.  

I am so happy I achieved this goal of going to London for the Harry Potter movie release!  I feel so accomplished that I have achieved yet another of my many goals I had before coming to Italy.  Now that I am back in Perugia I feel this is the beginning of the end.  I am in the process of writing all of my final papers and preparing for my final exams which are only 2 weeks away!  

But I am also preparing for the big American holiday tomorrow..Thanksgiving!!  Since Thanksgiving is not celebrated in Italy we have classes here at Umbra tomorrow.  After classes I am going over to my fellow LVCers Kaitlin and Matt's apartment for Thanksgiving dinner.  I am not sure if we are having turkey but it's going to be nice to be with my Perugia family tomorrow since I cannot be with my US family.  I will miss you all tomorrow and I will miss the turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie, Macy's parade and everything else Thanksgiving has to offer.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday tomorrow and know that I am thankful for all of you and I will be thinking of you as I eat my dinner here in Perugia!

Italian word of the post:

    la festa del Ringraziamento - Thanksgiving

Here us a link to my Facebook page with all of my pictures from London....

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=249985&id=604955888&l=c909e8cc09 

Morgan :)

We're Off to See the Wizard..Harry Potter That is

Ciao!

Tomorrow is the day I have been waiting for since mid October!  Myself, along with four of my fellow Umbra students will be leaving tomorrow night from Rome to London!  We are taking a train tomorrow afternoon to the Rome airport and our flight leaves for London at 9 pm.  We will get to London around 10:30 London time (we have to change time zones).

The main reason we are going to London is for the release of the movie Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1.  We have booked our tickets for the movie and will be seeing it Saturday morning at a movie theater just outside the city.  We also have some other plans besides Harry Potter.  On Friday we are planning to visit an exhibit on the Titanic currently being held in London.  This is one of the biggest showcases of the Titanic in the world and it's supposed to be amazing.  Since we are all big Titanic fans as well we will be seeing this on Friday afternoon.  We are also planning to see some of London's famous sights including Westminster Abbey and the Tower Bridge on Saturday after the movie. 

I went to London almost 6 years ago and I am so happy to be going back!  It was one of my favorite cities when I went and it will be so cool to go back.  It's also going to be nice to speak English for 3 days!  But I am sure all of us will be saying "grazie" (thank you) and "ciao" (hello) as we are so used to it by now.  It's going to be so hard to break that habit.

Today is also a sad day for all of us here at Umbra.  Today marks one month until we leave this beautiful city.  I will be home one month from today and I can't believe how fast time has flown.  I am trying to treasure everyday as I am really going to miss this city so much.  I am also going to miss the many people I have spent the last 4 months with.  It's going to be hard to say goodbye to my roommates and the many friends I have made here in Perugia.  But for now I am just trying to stay positive and enjoy every single moment I have left here.  Don't get me wrong it will be nice to come home to PA.  I can't wait to see my family, friends, and pets as I miss you all so much!!  And I can't wait to see you all in only 30 days :)

I hope everyone has a nice weekend and I will update sometime next week on my trip to London!

Italian word of the post:
    aeroporto - airport

Morgan :)

Art History Field Trip to Florence!

Ciao!

This weekend was a whirlwind of art!  That is basically the only way I can describe the last two days.  Don't get me wrong, it was the best field trip I have ever taken but I have an overdose of art right now (as my professor described it).

On Friday Morning I met up with my class at the train station in Perugia at 6 am!  We had to catch a 6:40 train to Florence so we had to be up bright and early.  There are only seven students in my survey of Italian art class and we traveled with one staff member from Umbra.  It was nice to travel with such a small group of people.  We arrived in Florence around 8:15 and went straight to our hotel to drop off our luggage.  We then stopped for some Italian coffee at a local cafe before heading to our first museum of the day, the Uffizi.

The Uffizi (which means offices in Italian) has some of the worlds' most recognized art next to the Louvre in Paris, France.  There were absolutely no photos allowed in the museum and there were guards everywhere,  especially around the most famous paintings.  There were also sensors and security cameras around every piece of artwork.

I knew we were going to see all of the paintings we had studied so far in class but when we saw our first one it was so exciting.  To learn about these famous paintings then seeing them up close and personal is a feeling I cannot even begin to describe.  And this is saying something since I do not like artwork.  I never thought I would enjoy staring at some of these paintings as much as I did.  We saw Botticelli's most famous paintings including "Primavera" and "The Birth of Venus".  Since there were no photos allowed here are some images courtesy of Google of the paintings we viewed.  The first is the "Primavera" and the second is the famous "Birth of Venus".

 

 

In the Uffizi we also viewed some original paintings done by Leonardo da Vinci including a work that was incomplete.  It was so amazing to see these paintings up close and personal because most of them are quite large.  Some of the paintings even take up an entire wall in the museum.  

After visiting the Uffizi we went over to the Bargello where some of the sculptures we studied in class are held.  We saw some original sculptures by Donatello and Verrocchio which are also amazing to see up close.  The interesting thing about seeing these sculptures up close is that you can walk around them.  In all of the pictures we saw in class you never see the back of the sculpture.  And to finally get a 360 degree view was pretty amazing.

We headed for lunch after visiting the Bargello and we were all pretty hungry.  So the seven of us in the class headed to "The Diner".  This is an American diner in Florence that started in 2004.  They serve real American classics including cheeseburgers, pancakes, wraps, and fountain drinks.  Each of us got a burger, fries, and soda and it was a great meal.  Our American food cravings were fulfilled and I think we can all survive now until we get back to the US.  And surprisingly, it was one of the best cheeseburgers I have had in awhile!  Who knew Italians could make such great burgers?!

After our American lunch we headed to Santa Croce (meaning church of the holy cross in Italian).  After seeing pictures of this basilica in class I was so excited for our visit.  But when we got inside I was disappointed.  The church is currently undergoing some renovations and the beautiful stained glass was obstructed by some scaffolding.  The paintings we learned about in class could not be viewed either thanks to the construction.  Although we couldn't see some things we did see the graves of Michelangelo and Galileo which I didn't know were in the church until our professor pointed them out to us.  We were allowed to take pictures so here are some of the inside of Santa Croce.  The second photo is Michelangelo's grave and the third photo is Galileo's grave.

 

  

After visiting Santa Croce we headed back to our hotel.  We went out for dinner as a class then went to bed by 9:30 pm.  We were all so wiped out after our first day of art overload.  The next morning we woke up and had a complimentary breakfast at out hotel and headed out around 9:30 am.  

Our first stop was the Brancacci Chapel just outside the city center.  The Chapel is a private family chapel with works painted by two artists we learned about in class.  We learned about three of the frescoes inside the chapel and we got to see all three plus some up close.  And the best part was that we were allowed to take photos without a flash inside the chapel.  Here are some photos of the paintings inside the chapel.  The first photo is the "Baptism of Christ" by Masaccio.  The second photo is the "Tribute Money" by Masaccio.

 

We headed to a few more churches after visiting the Brancacci Chapel including Santa Maria Novella.  This is one of the main churches in Florence and the train station is actually named after it.  It is one of the most beautiful churches I have been in Italy so far.  We saw an original painting on the wall of the church and some original stained glass from the 1500's as well.  Here is the of the outside of Santa Maria Novella.

 

After visiting the church we went to the center of Florence to visit the Cathedral of Florence.  We didn't learn about any sculptures or paintings inside the cathedral itself but our professor still wanted us to go inside.  Since it was a Saturday afternoon the piazza was packed with people.  We took some photos, went inside the cathedral and then took a break for lunch because of all the crowds around the cathedral.  The outside of the cathedral is beautiful, it's one of the most recognized churches in Italy and for good reason.  Sorry about the woman's head in the photo, as I said it was very crowded that day.

We also saw another recognizable sight, the bell tower by Giotto.

After lunch we went to the most anticipated museum of the field trip, the Accademia.  There is really only one sculpture of importance inside the Accademia and that is the "David" by Michelangelo.  It is the most recognizable sculpture all around the world and I was so excited to see it in person.  

When we got up to the "David" the first thing I noticed is the size.  The sculpture is 17 feet tall plus there is a 4 foot original base it sits on.  It is amazing that one man carved this from a single slab of marble in the early 1500's.  What you also don't notice from photos of the "David" is how much detail Michelangelo used in the sculpture.  He studied the human body so intensely that he even did the veins in David's arms, hands, legs, and feet exactly.  I will never forget seeing this in person and it was my favorite moment of the trip.  As with almost every place we visited there were no photos allowed of "David".  But being the curious American students we are we wanted to try to take a picture just so we could say we did.  There weren't too many people around and the guards weren't paying too much attention so we each snapped a photo without flash of Michelangelo's most famous sculpture!  Granted, the photo isn't too good but I feel so accomplished now that I took that photo.  And here it is....

After the illegal photo taking we headed for some gelato to celebrate our accomplishment.  It was a great ending to a field trip I will never forget.  I don't think it'll hit me that I have seen so many famous pieces of artwork until I get back to the states.  Now every time I see these pieces of art in textbooks it will be so much cooler knowing that I have seen the originals.

Now that I am back in Perugia I have started the countdown to London!  I am leaving this Thursday night and I hope this week goes by quickly!  The people I am traveling with are planning some activities for this week to make the week go by a little faster including watching the 6th Harry Potter film to prepare us for the 7th!  We all are beyond excited :)

I hope everyone has a fantastic week and I will update again before I take off for the land of Harry Potter and Big Ben!

Here is the link to my Facebook page with all of my pictures from Florence....

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=247848&id=604955888&l=312e2433e8

Italian word of the post:

    firenze - florence

Morgan :)

Human Development in Culture Class Project

Ciao!

These past few weeks I have been working on a project for my human development in culture class here at the Umbra Institute.  We have been learning about different teaching methods in Europe and while doing so we have been taking field trips to local schools here in Perugia.  We visited two high schools, two elementary schools, and an after school program for students who want to learn English.

It was a really eye opening experience to how schools work here in Italy.  Most children attend school 6 days a week (they have off on Sundays) and they go until 1 o'clock in the afternoon every day.  And most children have some sort of after school program they attend once or twice a week.  The after school English language program we visited the other day goes until atleast 7 o'clock in the evening.  I couldn't believe how much schooling these children have until we visited these schools.  I suddenly feel like I shouldn't have complained as much when I was in high school.

Besides attending school 6 times a week the children start learning English around 2nd grade.  Most of the high school kids we spoke to spoke English very well and I felt so bad I didn't know much Italian.  Even the elementary school children we spoke to could understand the basics of what we were saying.  At their age I was still mastering the English language and they are learning a completely new language which I think is great for them.  I wish I would have had the opportunity to learn a second language in elementary school.

Today we had our last school visit and now our group must begin working on our presentation.  I had a lot of fun with the school visits and I am kind of sad it is over.  The children were all so well behaved and their
English was more proper than most people I know.  It was such a wonderful learning experience that I will never forget.

Now, I must begin writing my Italian presentation that is due in a few weeks.  It shouldn't be too hard considering my topic is gelato!  And since I love my topic it should be really fun!

I also have to get ready for my art history field trip this weekend.  On Friday morning my class is leaving for Florence and we will be returning to Perugia Saturday evening.  We are going to be seeing a lot of famous artwork including works by Botticelli and Michaelangelo.  We are also going to be seeing a painting by Leonardo da Vinci which Florence has on loan from the Louvre in Paris!  I can't wait to report on what I saw next week!

And one week from tomorrow myself along with 2 of my fellow LVCers and 2 friends from Perugia are going to London for the Harry Potter movie release!  We just booked our tickets for the movie yesterday so we will be seeing the movie that Saturday morning!  We aren't going to the official premiere as that is taking place early next week but I am so excited just to be in London when the movie is released!  I am sure the 5 of us are going to have a great time :)

And before you know it, I will be back in the USA!  Everyone keeps talking about leaving and I don't even want to think about it as this point.  I mean, I miss my family and friends so much but saying goodbye to my new Umbra friends and roommates will be the hardest thing.  I can't believe it but 5 weeks from this Friday I will be back home.  Time has flown by just like everyone told me it would and it's a sad thing.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far!

Italian word of the post:
    scuola - school

Morgan :)

Pisa (aka One Big Tourist Trap)

Ciao!

Yesterday myself, Sarah, and Devon went to Pisa to see one of the worlds' most famous landmarks, the leaning tower of Pisa!  I knew when I left that the only thing in Pisa is the leaning tower and that's it.  Everyone goes to see the tower and take the famous "hold up the tower" photo.  Despite that we all wanted to go anyway.  And we planned to stop in Florence on the way back to Perugia for an awesome dinner (more on that later). 

We left Perugia at 10 am on a train bound for Florence which is about an hour and half away.  We got to Florence then changed trains and got to the Pisa Central train station around 1:30 pm.  Then we took a bus to the piazza where the leaning tower is and when we got there we saw all of the tourists!  There were so many vendors selling "touristy junk" including leaning coffee mugs and replicas of the tower.  I am so glad someone informed me of the touristy aspect of the leaning tower before I went or I would have been highly disappointed.  Here are some pictures of the piazza and of course the famous leaning tower!

 

 We walked right up to the tower and truth be told it is pretty awesome!  When you see it in person it is so amazing to actually see how much the tower leans!  It's amazing to me that it is even standing now that I've seen it up close.  The three of us felt like idiots but we did the famous poses anyway, we pushed up the tower with all of our might....

We stayed at the tower for about an hour then grabbed some lunch at a little cafe in the piazza and ate outside.  It was so beautiful that day and we sat outside enjoying the 70 degree weather for what felt like hours.  We realized it was probably one of the last warm days we are going to have for the rest of our stay.  After lunch we caught a train back to the Florence train station for some shopping and eating!

I have never been to Florence but my 2 roommates I was traveling with have both been there more than once.  I am going next weekend for my art history field trip but I wanted to go with them anyway.  We got off the train and walked around enjoying the sights of the Duomo (the main church in Florence) and a lot of amazing artwork all over the city.  Florence is also a great city for shopping so we went in a few stores and did lots of window shopping as well since most of the stores include Chanel and Dolce and Gabbana which are not the cheapest places even in Europe.

Around 7 pm we headed for dinner at this Mexican restaurant my roommate Sarah raves about.  She had been there earlier in the semester and she wanted Devon and I to experience it as well.  Now, I know what you all are thinking..Mexican food in Italy?  I would say the same thing but all of us have been craving Mexican food for awhile now and we needed a change from all the pizza and pasta.

I had a chicken and cheese quesadilla for dinner and the three of us split chips, salsa, and guacamole as an appetizer and man was it good!  The spicy Mexican food is just what we wanted and we could not have been happier after that meal.  After dinner we had yet another American treat..Ben and Jerry's ice cream!  There is a shop in the center of Florence and it was pretty good.  I have not had Ben and Jerry's in a really long time but I could tell it tasted a little different than real American Ben and Jerry's.  I think the Italians tried to make it creamier because that is how their gelato is but once again we were all incredibly happy about our ice cream.

After our American dinner and dessert we took the 9:30 pm train back to Perugia.  We got back to our apartment around midnight then we all went right to bed.  It was a long and tiring day but well worth it!  I feel so accomplished as I think I have seen all of Italy's biggest landmarks.

Today I am working on some papers and preparing for another week of classes.  Tomorrow night a group of us are going to see "Inception"!  The film just came out here in Italy and every Monday night a theater in Perugia shows films in English with no subtitles or dubbing!  I can't wait to see my favorite movie again and here's hoping I figure it out this time!

I hope everyone has a wonderful week and I will update again soon!

Italian word of the post:
    torre di pisa - the tower of Pisa (Italians don't use leaning in the name)

Morgan :)

My Fall Break Part 3: Prague and Munich

Ciao!

As promised, here is the last leg of my Fall break journey!  After leaving a snowy Salzburg Erin and I had quite a journey to Prague.  The truth is, you should never travel from Salzburg to Prague by train.  When we got our tickets at the Salzburg train station the man at the counter was very helpful and he spoke English.  We thought it would be an easy journey since he only gave us 1 train ticket.  When we got back to our hostel we realized that the paper he gave us about all of our train connections was in German.  Luckily, we knew the basics for train travel in Italy so it was kind of easy to figure everything out.  We also saw that we only had 5 minutes to get to our first connection in Austria (yikes!).

Needless to say, I was panicked the morning we left for Prague because it was snowing and our first train was delayed by 10 minutes due to the weather conditions.  Things were not looking good at that point but we pressed on and made it to our first connection thinking we'd missed the train.  Despite that we ran to the platform anyway praying the train for the Czech Republic was still there and miraculously that train was delayed 10 minutes also so we just made it!  We spent about 2 hours on the second train and we made our third connection with plenty of time to spare.  We got on our third train thinking it would take us straight to the main station in Prague.  But when the conductor came around to stamp our ticket she started speaking Czech and the only word we recognized was "bus".  We didn't really think anything of it so we went back to what we were doing.  The train stopped at a station a few minutes later and everyone was getting off and the conductor came to us yelling "bus"!  We ran off the train and these people pointed to us where to go.  We got on a coach bus thinking we were going to the main city of Prague.  Nope, this 15 minute bus ride took us to yet another train station where we got on our 4th train of the day.  We finally made it to the main train station about an hour later.  I was so thankful to make it to the main train station!

We made it to our hostel around 7:30 pm and we decided to get some dinner and just go to sleep.  We had no idea where anything was and we were tired so we went to the first place we saw which happened to be Subway!  Having not had subs since we arrived in Europe it was a nice change from all the pasta we eat in Perugia.  Luckily, the people spoke English and were very nice to us.  We got our subs and went to sleep shortly after.

The next day we decided to explore the city and get a feel for what is in Prague.  We crossed the Charles Bridge and headed to the Old Town Square, the main square in Prague.  Once we got to the square it was a glorious sight.  We saw all of these old, gorgeous buildings and a food festival that was going on that week.  Our timing could not have been more perfect.  Since it was around lunchtime we got ourselves some kielbasa sandwiches (the sandwich that turned my stomach upside down) and sat on a bench and just enjoyed the moment.

After lunch we decided to continue with our theme of going to high points in cities and we went up the bell tower in the old town square.  It was nice because we could take an elevator again and we got amazing views when we got to the top.  We saw Prague castle off in the distance and it was yet another beautiful day.  Chilly, but very beautiful.  Here are some pictures atop the bell tower in beautiful Prague!

 

At that point it was getting pretty late so we went back to our hostel to get warm.  We went out for dinner that night at a local restaurant where I had the best sauerkraut I have ever tasted!  We had a wonderful first day in Prague.

The next morning we slept in a little bit because we didn't have a tour until 2 pm.  We took our time and made it to the Old Town Square once again.  We signed up for a walking tour of Prague castle and i was so excited.  The castle was far away but we took a tram to go up the hill (thank goodness!) and got out where our tour guide took us to a great spot for photos.  We got a great lookout at the entire city and it was a crystal clear day yet again.  

After lots and lots of picture taking we walked up to the castle entrance.  We immediately saw the castle guards and it reminded me of Buckingham Palace.  The guards were still as statues and just like Buckingham Palace you can take pictures with them.  So what did we do?

We went through the entrance of the castle and learned we weren't really going into the castle at all.  The President of the Czech Republic occupies a majority of the castle and you can actually walk right up to his residence.  You can obviously not go in but I was surprised as to how close you could get to his residence, it was definitely different than the US.  We walked a little more to St. Vitus Cathedral which is on the grounds of the castle.  The cathedral was started in the 1700s and not finished until the 1920s.  Having been in plenty of cathedrals in Italy I was expecting the same old thing.  But in fact, the Czech style is much different than Italy.  They use a type of architecture called gothic architecture and it was really neat to see a change in style.  Here is St. Vitus Cathedral and since no photos were allowed of the inside I have none.

We ended our tour by seeing the changing of the guard at the castle.  I thought it would be a big production just like at Buckingham Palace but in fact it wasn't much of a ceremony.  The guards changed and that was pretty much it.  It was different, but still very interesting.  We went to the final photo taking spot and ended there.  Here are some pictures of that location.  You will notice my hat in the one photo.  Erin and I both bought 100% wool hats in Prague because we were both freezing and trust me these hats were nice and warm!  

 

The next day we left chilly Prague and headed on a train for Munich, Germany.  We were only going to have about half a day in Munich but I was still excited to see Germany.  I have never been there and have heard great things.  Our train journey was much easier than the one to Prague and we made it to our hostel at around 3 pm.  We immediately headed to the city center which was only a 5 minute walk from our hostel.  We got pretzel sandwiches from a local cafe and sat outside to enjoy Munich.  The pretzel was amazing, now I know why Germany is famous for their soft pretzels :)

We went to the square to hear the glockenspiel ring.  It rings 3 times a day and we were lucky enough to hear it considering our limited time there.  We then walked to the English Gardens which we heard great reviews about.  The gardens were fantastic!  Since it is Fall all of the leaves were magnificent colors.  We walked to the end of the park and saw an area called "the surf".  It is a little portion of the river that runs through the gardens and the water is really choppy there.  So the locals take their surfboards and ride this section of the river.  It was very cold that day but there was still one guy getting out of the surf when we got there.  Here are some pictures of the English Gardens and the final picture is of "the surf".

That night we got some local food including pomme frittes, the word for french fries in German.  They were really good and made even more amazing because the Germans love mayonnaise on their french fries!  While heading back to our hostel we came across a little orchestra playing in the town square.  They were playing classical music and they were really good.  We listened to them for about an hour before heading back to get some sleep.  We had to be up at 5 am the next morning because we had a flight to Pisa.

We made our flight with plenty of time to spare and it was time to head back to Italy.  We flew on Ryanair which for those who don't know is a low cost airline based out of Ireland.  Erin and I booked this flight because not only was it a good time it only cost us about 15 US dollars to fly!  It was only about an hour flight and even more amazing than our cheap fare was the fact that we flew over the Alps the entire way to Pisa!  The view was incredible and I couldn't stop smiling at this beautiful view.

We made it to Pisa 35 minutes ahead of schedule and I caught an early train back to Perugia.  Overall, it was the best 8 days so far in Europe.  My favorite place I visited was Salzburg and my favorite meal was in Prague.  I will never forget the memories over my break and I am looking forward to getting back into the swing of things here in Perugia.

We started classes back up today because yesterday was All Saints Day which is a national holiday in Italy.  And I have realized it is the beginning of the end.  All of my professors were talking about finals and it made me so sad.  My finals are only 6 weeks away and I know time is going to fly away from me way too quickly!  I am just trying to live in the moment and enjoy everyday here in my temporary home.  I am also counting down to my field trip to Florence which is only 2 weeks away and my 3 day weekend in London that's only 3 weeks away!

Right now I have to get back to studying because I have a lot of papers to prepare outlines for.  I also have to sign up for my classes next semester at LVC early next week so I am preparing for that as well.  This Saturday I am going to Pisa to do nothing more than take pictures of the leaning tower!  A few of my roommates and I are going so plan to see many pictures of that leaning tower sometime next week!

I hope everyone has a wonderful week and I will update again soon.  Here is the link to my Facebook pictures from Prague and Munich..enjoy!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=243915&id=604955888&l=55c98b216a

Italian word of the post:
    buongiorno - good morning

Morgan :)