An American in Paris: Day 1

The next morning we got up early to start on the long-list of things we wanted to do & see in Paris (and also so we could score the free breakfast at our hostel which ended at 9:30 every morning).

We first walked along our street and wandered for a little while, window-shopping and exploring the city. And by wonderful luck we ran into A STARBUCKS about 10 minutes into our walk. Teresa & I have both been missing Starbucks in Florence so we stopped to enjoy some American coffee :) Most of you at home are probably rolling your eyes at us.. but you try going without a skinny vanilla latte for two months!!

 

After our delicious Starbucks break we continued on with our day (now with a bit more energy) :) 

We walked to see The Pantheon, Luxembourg Gardens and lastly the Lourve. 

The Pantheon was really cool, but what impressed me most were the apartments right by. The buildings were beautiful & I wouldn't mind living in them ;)

Afterward we made our way to Luxembourg Gardens. It was huge & beautiful, definitely a place you could spend hours in. If I lived in Paris I would be there everyday going on runs or reading a book. It was so nice to see some green & flowers, since Firenze pretty much has none.

We spent a good amount of time in there. Relaxing & enjoying the garden and then made our way to to the Lourve. We got there and as expected there was a huge line. Luckily it moved fairly quickly, which was good considering it was getting pretty chilly outside. We spent a few hours there, looking at all the art and seeing the Mona Lisa, which as expected was not too exciting. I don't really understand the big deal other than it was painted by Da Vinci. We also had lunch in the museum as well, since we were starved after all the art strolling. 

 The tiny Mona Lisa

My yummy Quiche Lorraine and salad

After the long day we headed back to our hostel, exhausted from all the walking & site seeing. We decided we wanted to see another movie, YES ANOTHER (we've been deprived). Teresa wanted to see Paranormal Activity 3 and since it just came out in the States we figured it would be in English. We got to the theater, which was SO crowded. The French I guess were REALLY excited to see this movie. Hoards of people crowded the door and people started to get in fights with each other beacause they were trying to push to the front. Anyways, it was not enjoyable waiting for the movie to start, and to our surprise, when it did it was in FRENCH and with no subtitles. We tried to understand what was going on in the movie, but I was totally confused (and frightened). Afterward we walked back to the hostel & passed out. 

Ciao, Erica <3

An American in Paris: The First Night

Fall break was absolutely amazing. I am still in shock of how lucky I am to travel to all these beautiful places & to study in such a beautiful city for 4 months. For break I traveled to Paris & London with some friends and it was wonderful :)

The first stop was Paris...

Ashley, Teresa & I took a bus from Florence to Pisa on Friday the 21st. We flew out from Pisa because it's a much smaller airport & we scored really cheap flights (I'm talkin' no more than 20 euros cheap). The bus was supposed to leave at 11:15 but it left about 20 minutes later than expected and took a bit longer to get there than we anticipated. Needless to say we RAN through the Pisa airport to check-in and find our gate (let me add that I was carry a bag that was 15 kilograms (about 35 pounds) that had no wheels to drag.. it was not pretty). Luckily we made it to our gate with a little time to spare. We flew into an airport right outside of Paris (again, because it's cheaper) and then took another bus into the city. We were dropped at the Metro station where Teresa & I parted ways with Ashley (who met up with her mom) and we soon started navigating ourselves through the metro to find our hostel (again, all with a very heavy, awkward bag). We found our hostel with no problem and were finally there around 5pm. 

This was my first time ever in a hostel and in-all it was enjoyable. The only semi-problem was that Teresa & I thought we booked a 4-person all female room with an attached bathroom. Turns out, we booked a 4-person mixed room. So, we shared the other beds in our room with boys. But not to worry, they were all really cool, and from all over the world. We had people come in and out (since we spent 5 nights there) who were from Brazil, Australia, Germany & Turkey. The only inconvenience was that we had to change in the bathroom (not a big deal). Boys are usually more easy-going than girls anyways, so it was fine :)

the first night there we were pretty tired so we took it easy. We went to a cute french restaurant that was pretty close to our hostel and had some fries, a yummy burger and a delicious dessert. Walking back to the hostel we noticed a movie theater on our street, which made us SO excited since we've been movie-deprived since being in Firenze. We decided it would be cool to see a movie we had both seen but in French, since we both don't speak a word we thought it would be a cool way to try to pick up some of the language. We decided to see Crazy Stupid Love, but to our surprise when the movie started playing it was in ENGLISH! We were a bit disappointed, but it was nice to see a movie regardless. Afterward we went to bed and prepare for the big day ahead of us... 

Midterms are Over, Fall Break Begins..

I am finally done with midterms! These past three days have felt like forever & I am so happy I am done with my exams because now it's time for some TRAVELING!!

On Friday I leave for PARIS with my friend Teresa & we will be there for 4 days & next Wednesday we head to LONDON where we will meet up with my friends Karyssa, Amy & Jenny. I am SO excited about my upcoming travels & I have jotted some things down that are a must do/must see in both places

 

PARIS:

The Eiffel Tower

Go to the Lourve

Notre Dame

Moulin Rouge

Arc de Trimphe

go to abar called "Sexy Bar" that my friend Karyssa recommended.. haha

Get macaroons from Laduree

Luxembourg Gardens/Tuilerie Gardens

Pere-Lachaise Cemetery (this is where Oscar Wilde & Jim Morisson are buried) 

Obviously EATING as much as possible. Especially crepes & steak frites 

Visit Ile-Saint-Louis, where the oldest ice cream parlor in the world is, called Berthillon

Drink delicious wine

... really the list is never ending :)

LONDON:

Go on the London Eye, the largest ferris wheel in the world

Lots of shopping on Oxford street :)

Shops including, but not limited to Top Shop & Primark ;)

Stonehedge

Go to a show at West End.. Hopefully Les Miserables

Buckingham Palace

Eat CHIPOTLE! (I have been having major cravings for it since being in Italy)

Eat fish & chips

See the Clock Tower

... this list is to be continued as well. 

I am beyond excited for my fall break & I will be sure to take lots of pictures to share with you all :)

I'll leave you all with a few pictures of what I'll be seeing... really just to make you jealous ;)

 

clearly this is what I will look like while admiring the Tower

 

ciao

au revoir

cheers,

Erica <3

EuroChocolate Festival in Perugia

On Friday, October 14th I went to the EuroChocolate festival in Perugia. It was a lot of fun & I ate so much delicious chocolate.

Perugia is just under a 2 hour drive from Florence. We left early on Friday so we could have the whole day to explore around the city & obviously taste as much chocolate as possible. We got these things called "EuroCards" which gave us free samples & discounts at most of the booths at the festival. 

There were so many booths & so much chocolate! Seriously chocolate in any form you could think of.. they had it! It was heaven.

 My chococard! The border were all the samples & free things I could get

 The Dog Choco stand! They had a whole stand for dog & cat chocolate-flavored treats. I had to get some for Howie for Christmas :)

 My "hot chocolate" which was really just hot melted chocolate. It was pretty chilly & windy in Perugia on Friday so this was wonderful... & I might have had two... shhh ;)

 Chocolate liquor! I was able to sample it & it was seriously delicious... I might have gotten some as presents to bring home ;)

 Chocolate pasta... only in Italy would there be chocolate pasta

Mounds of chocolate

The day was wonderful.. I did my two favorite things in Perugia.. ate & shopped. We found this cute store and went in since we needed a break from all the chocolate & I found the cutest black leather vest!

Perugia was really beautiful & it was a perfect fall day filled with good friends & delicious chocolate :)

Ciao, Erica

Midterms...

 

Tomorrow is the start of midterms week & I have NO motivation to study. Back home I have little motivation to study but here, in Italy, there's practically none. There are so many other things I'd rather be doing. 

But, nonetheless I will be studying practically all day today. And when I say study, I mean an hour studying, followed by an hour eating/on the internet/watching a TV show... haha clearly my study habits are bad, but to be honest classes in Italy aren't nearly as hard as back home. I think the professors know that we are all here to explore Italy and other places in Europe, so none of the work so far has really been that strenuous. 

So that's what I'll be doing today, sitting on my bed (because the library is closed today & our couch in the apartment is pretty much broken) studying. But, I really have no excuse to complain because after my midterms it's FALL BREAK!! And I am headed to Paris & London. Can't wait :)

Anyways, wish me luck & motivation to get through this day of studying. Also, I have a post coming soon about my recent trip to the Chocolate festival. This will probably be up later today since it will be a way for me to procrastinate haha :)

Ciao, Erica <3

October 12th Cooking Class

Every Wednesday morning I have my Contemporary Italian Cooking class & every Wednesday I say that the recipe from that day has been my favorite so far... 

So it will come as no surprise to you when I say that today, October 12th the recipe in class was SO DELICIOUS and has been my favorite ;)

We made Lasagnetta alle Melanzane, quartirolo e basilico, and for the 99% of my friends who don't speak Italian... Lasagna with eggplant, quartirolo cheese and basil. 

Here is the recipe:

300 gr (10 oz) eggplants (about half) already left 30 minutes under coarse salt to drain

60 gr (2 oz) grated Quartirolo cheese

50 gr (1 1/1 oz) grated Grana cheese

6-7 cherry tomatoes, dried in the oven

1 garlic clove

extra virgin olive oil

zucchini

a small potato

half a carrot

2-3 pieces of green celery

basil 

1 large layer of fresh pasta

 Raw Tomato Sauce: Peel 3-4 San Marzano tomatoes, take out the seeds, put them in a mixer with olive oil and salt and basil, and blend them into a sauce. See picture below :)

 

Vegetable Sauce: cook the zucchini, carrot, potato and celery in a small amount of water and a spoonful of oil on the stove. Once they are soft, put in a mixer with a small amount of cooking water, 2 spoonfuls of olive oil, 1 spoonful of Grana cheese and 5-6 basil leaves

the quartirolo cheese

Cook the layer of pasta in a large pan with salted boiling water; drain it on a cloth

The fresh pasta

Golden the garlic clove in olive oil and saute the diced eggplant, then mix in a blender. Spread the pureed eggplant on the pasta, sprinkle the both grated cheeses, distribute the chopped dried tomatoes. Roll the pasta layer and steam (or bake) them.

 the eggplant

 

Inside the lasagna, eggplant, both the cheese and a cherry tomato

Here is the finished product :) My lasagna roll, tomato sauce and vegetable puree

In class we called this "lasagna cannoli" because of there shape. It was so delicious and after eating 2 I wanted more. I'm so happy I decided to take this class not only to learn all these awesome recipes but also to eat foods that I normally would avoid. Yesterday if you had asked me if I wanted lasagna with eggplant and zucchini in it I would have turned up my nose and said 'absolutely not, I don't like those vegetables' but.. they were DELICIOUS. Being in Italy and being in this class is definitely broadening my food horizons.


 

Ciao, Erica <3

Orvieto, Saturday October 8th

On Saturday, ISA planned a trip to go to Orvieto. A small hill town about a two hour drive from Florence in the Umbria Region. It was so peaceful & beautiful there, it reminded me a lot of Lucca, which was a nice change of pace from Florence.

Orvieto is famous for the ancient city, which are a bunch of caves underground. We were able to tour one of the caves, which was cool to see but kinda of claustrophobic. I got a few pictures.. 

The Duomo was also really gorgeous. I'm beginning to learn that all the Duomos in ALL the cities are amazing. They are all so detailed, they are like huge pieces of art.

After our tour we had some lunch & did some shopping. 

 My delicious pasta

Orvieto had a lot of really cute pottery shops. This one place we went into was heaven. Everything was so gorgeous. The artist was working when we went in and she was the nicest women, she was so friendly and helpful when I was speaking Italian with her, she was really willing to help.. which I have found that not all Italians are, or they just immediately start speaking English because it's faster. But I really love & appreciate when they are patient with you & willing to help!

All of her pieces were so beautiful that I had to pick up some things... and some presents too ;)

 

Here are some pictures of the beautiful view of the town

 

 And some other random photos from throughout the day..

Ciao, Erica xo