Ciao!

Hello sorry i havent been on but i have some exciting stories to tell you all because I got some foreign exchange students of my own and oh gosh are they a hand full!!

world cup...

So sadly the U.S. is out of the game and so is Italy. The only country that I have left in is Brazil. :( Tell me who's your team and who you want to win!

World Cup

Hey are you guys watching the World Cup? I was devastated when Italy lost but it was okay, they fought as hard as they could and I was very proud of them. Now I did find this and thought this was hilarious.

UPDATE!!

Sorry I haven't been on a lot has happened and I know its not about Italy but there's an Italian involved!

So I graduated for high school and it was a really exciting thing, cause I'm the first grandchild to graduate on my mom's side. High school wasn't all that fun for me. I wasn't popular but I wasn't an odd ball, that's the reason I went to Italy.

Italy had changed me as a person I have grown and surpassed people at my school. They didn't understand why I had done it because America has everything..."'MERICA!" I was always that girl who wanted to see what the world had to see and had to offer us as a society. They looked at me like I had three heads.
Being in Italy they asked be the same thing. "Why did you come to Italy when you are from America." I explained that I want to travel and that I never fit in in America so I wanted to see where I was most comfortable... they understood me and loved me for me.
Coming home was the hardest thing. I left my friends and family and all of the beautiful things that I had come a custom to. It was like leaving apart of myself there.

This is the person Italy had changed me into. They look the same but the transformation into getting a adult has happened. Thinking and acting with responsibility, it's in powering. I love Italy and everything about it. 

I am going back soon with my friend from America. I'm so excited to show her how Italians really do and maybe a little bit of tourists things. 

I'll keep you updates on my life...even if it's not Italian. I hope you all love it!

Do you want to build a snow angel!!

So my time in Italy wasn't just about site seeing, I actually got to be part of the culture. I was very blessed to have a great family that wanted me to see as much as I could. They loved to travel and, me being from California and California not really having big season changes, they took me to the snow.
Now the snow wasn't supposed to be snow on the mountain, it was mid October and everyone told me no snow but I was very hopeful. When we got into Switzerland there was snow. My family was so excited for me but was still realistic. Once we get to the mountain we were supposed to hike it started snowing from the sky, it is every Californian's dream. So we were supposed to go on this beautiful hike but we went about half way there before my host parents told us that we should probably turn back.
The most amazing thing ever.

Ponte vecchi...what...o

So this is the famous bridge in Florence, Ponte Vecchio. This bridge is very beautiful and has very cute shops. This bridge is close to the main shopping street and is near the 'old castle'. I really enjoyed Florence because it was what I imagine Venice would have been like.
 My exchange group and I went up to the highest hill in Florence and over looked the entire city. It was the most amazing site, we then went to big giant church theCattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore. Its in the shape of a cross and it has the biggest dome, well it was at the time it was built.

Elephant Columns

There are these columns with ancient Egyptian writing on them. I asked our tour guide what it an why it there were these pillars. She told us a story about Caesar and Cleopatra.
This particular pillar is near the Pantheon, its in the background. I really liked this one because it was detailed and the elephant was just too cute. In Rome, there are a couple of them around, its a bit like a scavenger hunt.

Trevi What, Trevi Who

The Trevi Fountain is so pretty. No! Like really its. I promise, throwing a coin into the fountain is a magical experience and it is very crowded. It's like a race to get to the front of the fountain to make a wish, it's kinda like Disneyland it takes a bit of time but the moments you are there its amazing.
The sculptures are spectacular and I can't believe that they were built thousands of years ago. There's so much going on in the fountain that when I went to the fountain the first time I was amazed and it was very overwhelming. It was, maybe, my third day in Italy and it was just spectacular. When I went with my mom at the end of my trip and I found things that I hadn't seen before. If I could I would go back to all the places I had went, I would hope to see all of the things that I had missed the first time.

There's a hole in the sky!!

 The Pantheon: the building with a giant hole in the ceiling. Don't get me wrong it's a beautiful building and there's lots of things to see, mainly dead people. The outside is magnificent and when you walk down to it -because it is built to the original ground level- it just gets bigger and bigger. The columns out front are very tall and you wonder 'how did people in ancient times build these things.'
Anyway the main thing is that there's a giant hole in the ceiling. There's no glass covering it and when it rains, well you get rained on if you stand under it. Literally the building is a round building with a whole in the top and I don't think there are any other doors that lead to rooms. It's pretty cool.

Did you lock the door

I have a weird fascination with old doors and locks. I believe that this lock was in Versailles. I love doors and locks because in the U.S. we usually don't have the history to have interestingly old locks and we also don't have the beautiful tall old doors that have seen so much. Locks have been man handled and have the most interesting stories like who has lived in the biulding, has anyone tried to break in and what has happened on the street in front of building. 

This lock probably doesn't have to worry on if someone was going to break in because it's on an inside door, but I wonder who opened the door or who had locked it and with what secrets did they lock with it.

Ben's Eye

I got to met the legend...Big Ben. I wanted to see Big Ben but it just didn't work into my schedule, well that was until my mom and I decided to go and see Westminster Abby. We get out of the Underground and BOOM! there he is. It was truly amazing. Once we were done in Westminster Abby it was dark outside and he was all lights, and a bonus with the London Eye in the background. This picture just made my London trip complete.

Gold, Gold and um more Gold

I loved these gates. These gates are what guards the amazing Versailles. I look like an ant compared to that palace and these gates. The palace was amazing, sadly non of the furniture in the palace belonged to any of the royal family's that had lived there. I didn't know anything about Versailles but taking the tour really let me learn a lot about all of the rooms and what would have been in those rooms, they made furniture that would be true to the century but it didn't give that feel of aw for me personally because I want to touch something and think who has touched this curtain or had walked on these floor. Still the palace is covered in gold, like literally the outside is almost made of gold.

Jewels and Beefeaters

So this is my new friend Mr. Beefeater. I have no idea why they are called beefeater but they are very nice. This was taken out front of the Tower of London. The Tower of London was very interesting and the crown jewels were quiet stunning. It's a once in a life time sight.

Trains here, there, everywhere?

The lovely Rome train station! If you have never been to a big train station like this one (like I had not) its overwhelming. There is some much going on and so many people you really need to be aware, not like its in the ghetto but still with that many people you should always be aware. Anyways, have to get the safety tip out of the way, its really exciting. I was very excited when I first went because leaving Rome meant I went to my host family which was the most exciting part. The sad thing with leaving is that I was leaving my friends and beautiful Rome.

Comment on a big train station you've been to and how it was like!

the Arc de Vatican

So this is on the side of the Vatican on a kind of side street but it is really cool to see because its kind of the protecting wall for the Vatican when the Vatican would be under attack. These walls are as old as the Vatican it's self but I think the Vatican was been preserved better than these walls.

So breathe taking and just an amazing thing to see, the Vatican is. It's in the middle of everything and like the Colosseum is something you have to see.

Promise I will post more about the Vatican soon!

First things first...

Missing the great city of Rome and all that is has to offer. The Colosseum is one of the most beautiful landmarks I've had the pleasure of seeing. It's seriously one of those things that's one of those hings you have to see.

Rome is just a great city it was the first city that I got to see in Italy. It was a very nice welcome to all of the food and all of the people. I can't wait to go again!

Eiffel Madness

Picture perfect! My mum took this picture so I'm just going to steal it from her, she wont mind. Paris is truly a beautiful city, maybe not my vibe but it is very pretty. The town is breathe taking and stunning. Plus the food is amazing.

Memories

Our view from the hotel in Rome. To be honest writing about all of the great fun I've had. This journey has been the best adventure I've ever had and probably never will have this amount of fun doing it. This blog post won't be as exciting but I need to get it all out.

If your thinking about doing something like this I encourage you to go for it because there might not be another time to get to travel. When you have time to travel, go for it.

Comment if you have any questions or just tell me where you would love to go!

High Tea your Majesty

This is the food they served us. It was so good there was yummy desserts on the top, scones on the second plate and sandwiches on the third level.

So Harrads tea is a very proper tea. They have the whole lot of tea and food and your own waiter its amazing.

Harrads Kitchen

This is the dessert area in the lovely store of Harrads. They literally have everything one would want. They didn't only have desserts they had EVERYTHING! Meats, cheeses, salads, sandwiches, pizza's and different kinds of dinners. It was beautiful and everything was reasonably priced. It was way better than the cheese cave.

Wedding Crashers

So when my host mom was showing me around the own her parents lived in we saw a wedding. It was very pretty and graceful, well i didn't see the wedding I only saw the reception decorations. So my family and I went in walked around and kinda crashed the clean up. My mom knew one of the people and she gave us all roses. So a check off of my bucket list: crash a wedding...check!

Florence

So this is in Florence and this trip was the funnest. My group went to Florence and it was good to see all of my friends. We got to see the beautiful Duomo church and we went on top of a hill and over looked the entire town. It was amazing one of my favorite cities.

Focaccia who!?!

This is focaccia. The best thing on this planet. I am in love with this miracle bread is probably the best thing in Italy. Its basically a bread with olive oil and salt, sometimes other things like this one has olives. It's so simple and yummy that all you want to do is eat it all day and all night. Team Focaccia!

Lost and Found

So this story is the worst of all of my stories. This picture was taken in Rome when we first got there and this story is from the first day. So I went to freshen up and opened my suitcase, the thing is it wasn't my suitcase. It was a 40 year old mans suitcase and my suitcase is a pretty girly print. I was so upset I Skyped my family and all I wanted to do was go home but they said no to stick it out. We got my suitcase and everything is good.

Metro Prison

So this is the lovely Metro in Paris. This story was the funniest and craziest story that has happened to me in my entire life. So my mum and I were coming back from walking around Paris and we wanted to head back towards our hotel and took the metro. So my ticket didn't work but my mums did so I tried to get in with her and it didn't exactly go the way we needed it to. So we were in the turn style and I was walking through with her but the door wouldn't open, so I could get out but my mom was stuck. We had to ask someone to get her out and my mom had to go and get another ticket for me. I felt like I was standing in the station for hours and at max it was about 5 minutes. So comment if you have either had something scary like this happen to you or how you would have responded.

Welcome to my house

You might ask yourself "Why is there a random picture of a town?"
The answer is because this is someones house and in Italy and Switzerland I guess its normal to walk into houses. Well this house had a goat cheese shop in the house, so it's normal to walk in and i guess buy some cheese.

So when my family was inside buying some cheese, I was in the hall looking around and found this deer skull that they were using as a hat rack. Then it got me to thinking what other weird objects do these people use as normal house objects. Comment on what you think would be a good use of weird objects as normal house objects.

Grocery Mafiia???

So this is the only grocery store that my mummy and I could find in Paris. It was the cutest little market ever but there was a little creepy because the owner and a couple of his friends were in the back. I was a bit scared to go in back because it look like they were talking about some secret thing. Anyways in France I guess that you can smoke where ever you like, but the plus side was that we got a liter of water for only 1 euro.

Castles Breathe too...

So this in the castle in Milan and I found it very interesting because of all the little holes all over the castle. I said because the castle needs to breathe, that is not the answer. So comment on what you think that there are holes all over the castle.

Don't forget to vote in the poll.

House 1 or 2

While in Italy I got to see many old buildings. I then fell in love with a couple...or most of them you could say. This cute little house was in my nonna's small town actually, and we were going on this long hike up in the mountains and saw all kinds of old buildings and this is one that I thought was too pretty. Plus it came with a cat!

 

Now this house is not in Italy....it's in Switzerland and you may ask why this house the sun doesn't even touch it. Well its because its my size. I am about 5ft 4in and proud but this house is literally two of my stacked on top of each other and that would equal how tall this house was. It was just perfect: had the perfect shutter windows I loved and it had a attached wood storage space right next door. All I needed was the papers and I would have bought it...well if it was on the market!

PO PO!!

This photo is of the carabinieri in Rome. Thanks for modeling

When I first got to Italy, well to my family, I had to go to the police station and tell them "Hi, I live here now. Or at least for the next 5 months." So my dad and I go to the police station and they take my finger prints, 2-3 times, and had me fill out some paper work just to say that I'm now living in this city. When you move you have to do this every time. No wonder why Italians live with their family for so long, I would hate to have to do that EVERY time I moved.

Ain't it my luck...

So this was our beautiful big plane to get home, its the biggest plane in the air, like ever, and I'm way excited cause I was on a ghetto plane before. My mummy and I get on and settle in and think 'oh this is going to be a way easy flight.' WRONG! There was this baby a row ahead and an aisle over that cried the entire flight. ALL 12 HOURS! I was going to die because not only am I taking this 12 HOUR flight, I also took a 2 HOUR train trip from France to England and then a 45 MINUTE tube ride to get to the airport. Needless to say I wanted to die that entire flight, because the mother of the crying baby didn't do anything. Not a thing! So if you have a baby and it cries on a flight, please don't let it cry do something so that you don't turn into someone else blog post.

GOATS!!!

So one day in Switzerland I was walking around an old village on top of a mountain. We found a small garden that was fenced in by stone and had two giant Sycamore trees. The garden was not open due to the fact that it was really cold. Anyways we were picking up pine cones for a Christmas wreath and we saw a goat on top of this big hill. My mom went up and went to talk to it, shes a goat whisperer. She ended up coming back down and the goat followed her. All of a sudden about 6 goats hopped up on this wall.

They then walked around and began to eat the grass. My mom made me take a picture with them I was so scared. We talked to Shepard and he was very friendly and told us that his daughter went to UCSB (University of California Santa Barbara) which is very close to where I live in California. Way crazy right, I'm in the Switer. hills and find someone who's daughter went to were I live. It was quiet the day.

I'M A BOSS STATUE?!?!

So this story today is less of an adventure and more of an..well something that would be amazing. When my mummy came a picked me up we spent some days in Italy and went to the Vatican. We walked through and I saw this statue and it hit me right when I saw it. I want to have a kick butt statue like this. This guy (don't remember who this was sorry bro) is just like 'what ever. Come at me. I'm amazing cause I'm a statue and your not."

The Vatican is a very beautiful church and there are a lot of beautiful statues and paintings. But really who would walk by this statue and not think about who this man was and what he did to be sculpted into this amazing pose.

Now why on earth would I think this..well cause wouldn't everyone what to have a statue like this guy. If you do comment below on what you would want your plaque under it saying.

Tube Tumble

In England my mommy and I took the Underground everywhere! So we had to shag our luggage up and down the stairs and when there was an escalator we were so excited. Anyways, we were going to the hotel, on our first day, and was getting on the escalator when I hear something. I heard "Oh *&%$, OH MY GOD." I turn around and see my lovely mother tumbling down about 5-6 steps on the escalator. There were 3 escalators, one going down and two going up. So I was on one of the up ones and my mom on the other. The one going down was full of people and they all watched my mom tumble down the stairs. I was laughing so much but felt so bad for my mom. 

Fonduey

 So my family and I love fondue and they made it for dinner so my mom told me you must take pictures...so I did. This is a photo of my sister Matie cooking the fondue and we had a little bit of trouble melting it at first but we did get it in the end.

 This is Bea and usually my dad and/or mom cooks dinner and we just set the table so Bea, Matie and I sit on the couch all on our phones ans while Matie was cooking and I was walking around with my camera Bea was doing the norm.

 So we have some how gotten to setting the table and getting all the things that goes into eating a fondue (potatoes, bread and we like prosciutto, but we don't stick it into the cheese.) That guy is my dad and the back of my brothers head.

This handsome little man is my little brother Leo. He is the craziest little kid and he is just loveable. He always likes to help with putting the table together or bringing in the chair, because there are 6 of us and we pull the table out.

Witches and Cows

 So my host mom, dad, grandma and little brother went into a little town in Switzerland. We were walking around and my dad said to me "Oh look its the old city hall." I thought it was so cool and I saw there was a shackle on the wall and I asked him what was that. He said oh that's where they keep the witches. Excuse me! Where they held the witches. He said yeah come and you can see the tower where they were kept...what! That little circle thing on top of the roof was the witch house. So that was not the only adventure the second story is quite funny.

So we were all walking along this trail and saw this man letting his cows out and we were talking to them, yes talking to cows don't judge. Anyways so one of them tried licking my mom and it stuck its tongue out so far. Then I tried to take a cute long picture of this cow and right as I took the photo I feel a tug on my sleeve and scream. The cow stuck it's tongue out and grabbed my sleeve. It was crazy!

Cave of Dreams

So this is a cheese cave. Yes! I said it right. A CAVE OF CHEESE!! It's a kids dream...well mine at least. So the store of this amazing cheese cave is that my host mom asked if I wanted to see it. DUH! So we walk into this small little restaurant, if you could call it that, and there was the typical old Italian men playing cards and it was all quiet. So my mom asks the lady if we can see the cave, like it's a common thing "Hi how are you, can we go in the cave." Okay so she walks us over and opens this fridge door that looks like it should be in an industrial kitchen. So the door opens and this is what we see, a long cave of just cheese.

This tunnel was long too, it wasn't a mile long but it went pretty far. So this cave is in the side of a mountain, that when you look at this restaurant place it's literally built into the side of the mountain.

The Red Phone Booth

    So in my little town of Legnano, on the train platform there is this telephone. I have been to this train station a lot of times, at least 10 or so times and had never noticed this beautiful box that encases this telephone. So when my host sister ,Bea and I went to Verona and I told her “OMG, look at that phone box thing, it’s so cute!” She thought I was out of my mind crazy, but she always thinks I’m crazy. Anyways when ever I go to the train station I always see  this amazingly, not special at all phone box.
    I just noticed while typing, the power/gas box that is yellow. How creative and colorful is my cute little town.

The Three Tuns Restaurant

    So when my mom came and picked me up we went to England. We went up to go see Windsor Castle and we needed food before we got back onto the train. So we asked a Beefeater where the best place to go to get authentic British food. He said the Three Tunes and so we sent off on the adventure.

  

We walked into this diver pub and are greeted by these old gentleman. We say hello and the man asks us “Where are you ladies from?” and answer California and they start singing some California song. We start laughing and go and sit down.

   We start looking at the menu and the ladies sitting next to us are telling us what is good. We, being not adventurous with food, order the same things. My mom: fish and chips, me: bangers and mash. The food was so good, but you can’t go to England without getting sticky toffee pudding.