It's that time of year

I've heard of all the fuss Christmas makes in Northern Europe. i.e. Germany, London, Paris, yadayada I get it. But the thing Florence has going for it is its underrated-ness. A couple weeks ago the streets of Florence began to light up... a tree was put in the Duomo Piazza and the Christmas market of Sante Croce came to life. I was half disappointed that I would be missing Christmas in New York City this year, but I take it all back. Florence at Christmas time is nothing short than magical, and it's the perfect send off for me to return home tomorrow.

The Nutcracker, Russian ballet

The Nutcracker, Russian ballet

Sahel :)

and Sam (cultural crew)

Laaaaaaaura :)

The Nutcracker stage!

It's been fun kids, to say the least. I can't believe the semester is over, it literally seems like yesterday that I touched down in Florence for the first time. It's easily been the best time of my life. And so, if you're a student, take my advice: if you have the opportunity, GO ABROAD. Soak it all up, meet new people, try new things, go everywhere you can. As terrified as I am to end this break from real life, I'm ready for it. So thanks Florence, from the bottom of my heart, it's been swell. Mark my words, I'll be back.

the beginning of the end?

With finals, seeing friends and soaking up all of Florence while I still can, this week has been a whirlwind! Since I'm leaving in less than a week I have been eating most of my meals out to eat all the Italian food that I can. Florence lights up around the holidays too! I was worried that I'd miss Christmas in the city, but I have to say, Florence does it better than New York. All the streets are lit up with hanging lights, and there's a Christmas Market in the Plaza in front of Santa Croce church.

On Monday I finally tried a restaurant that Sam told me to go to ages ago, called Osteria Santo Spirito. It's on the other side the river, which is the less touristy side of Florence, and it was delicious! Grace invited us me, Laura and Olivia out with her mom, who so reminded me of Grace. It made me miss my mom and dad too, so I'm glad I'll be seeing them soon! We all got the same pasta dish that came highly recommended, the baked gnocchi with cheese. It was so rich, but so delicious!

Cheesy gnocchi

On Tuesday, we went to our last beer pong tourney. A bar called Red Garter hosts it every Tuesday, and it's become a fun tradition this semester. We got there too late to play officially, so we just hijacked a table and played for fun (and Laura and I won both games, mainly thanks to her mad skills!) I also discovered the magic that is the Secret Bakery. There are these locations in Florence that sell pastries illegally really late at night (we went at 4am). You mainly hear about the location through word of mouth, and the one we went to was in a sketchy alleyway, where we had to knock on the door and whisper our order and wait for them to make them. Sahel, Olivia and I all got nutella filled donuts. Laura had to go home early, but I'll definitely be revisiting with her before we leave!

Celebrating our victory!

On Wednesday, I went to the NYU art show, where student drawings, paintings and photography from classes this semester was featured, to support Laura, who was in a drawing class this semester! Her stuff was all so good, as was a lot of other pieces in the show! I'm so jealous of people with artistic talent. After that, I went to Ethiopian food with my friend Meron, who is Ethiopian, and Sahel, Sam and David. It was delicious! Way better than the Ethiopian I've had in the city. They got a giant platter to share, and I had my own vegan plate.

Laura's artwork!

 On Thursday, La Pietra Dialogues (where I work) hosted a talk with Jim Messina, Obama's 2012 campaign manager! He gave a lecture, and then had a short Q&A with NYU students only. It was such an amazing opportunity. He was captivating and seemed very approachable. I wrote a blog post about the event for my job, which you can read here: http://www.lapietradialogues.org/blog/?p=364


Afterwards, I went to Gusta Pizza with David, Laura, Sahel and Grace, which is easily the best pizza I've ever had. I always get Laura and I's typical salty pizza, which has anchovies and capers. It's delicious! It may be the thing I miss most, food-wise.

SALTY PIZZA

On Friday, Laura and I were feeling lazy so we just made mac n' cheese (compliments of my Mom bringing me Annie's when she visited) and invited some people over to watch Love Actually, my favorite Christmas movie! It was such a homey night, and really got me into the Christmas spirit.

mac n' cheese with peas!

We spent all day Saturday studying, and then to give ourselves a break, we went to the Mexican place here in Florence (called Tijuana's) for dinner and strawberry margaritas! I had nachos with cheese, refried beans, guacamole and mixed veggies. After that, we went to the Christmas markets for dessert and mulled wine, and then went back to my apartment. Everyone stayed for a bit, but not after long Laura and I were back in megabed and watched Away We Go. I forgot how much I loved that movie, it's one of Laura and I's favorites.

Me, David, Grace and Sahel

my pipin' hot cinnamon pastry dessert

Easily the best line from Away We Go

I spent all day studying and getting ready for my finals tomorrow. I have an in-class test for my politics class, my Italian Oral exam, and then a paper due for the Etruscans, and then on Tuesday my Politics paper is due and my final project for Metropolitan studies is due. In other words I have a busy week ahead of me, but then on Friday I'm home free (literally). I can't believe how fast this semester has gone, but I have to admit I'm excited to get home and see everyone and celebrate Christmas, Indiana style.

New thing: secret bakery

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

This weekend I went on my last European adventure before I leave, and I met up with Rachel in Vienna!

Rachel! (somehow we didn't manage a picture together, whoops)

Vienna was a bit of a random choice. Rachel and I had been trying to find a place to meet up all semester, we bounced around the ideas of Ireland or London or Budapest, but none of the flight times seemed to work out. I had heard about the famous Christmas markets in Vienna, and the flights worked out for both of us, and voila!

I got to Vienna on Friday in the late afternoon and had to make myself busy for a couple hours because Rachel wasn't getting in until a bit later. So I ventured into the Vienna city center to find the Christmas markets I had heard so much about! I ended up going to 2- the biggest one at Rauthausplatz, and then another in the plaza area between 2 of Vienna's museums. I didn't end up finding anything I fell in love with, but it was a lot of fun to just browse around and eat all the delicious food! I had a fried dough thing with garlic on it, corn on the cob, candied almonds and mulled red wine! It was all delicious.

mulled red wine!

They had so many flavors of pretzals!

I went back to the hostel and hung out until Rachel got in around midnight, and then we just sat in the hostel lobby for a couple hours catching up. It was so great to finally see her!

On Saturday we got up decently early and went in search of breakfast. We found a bagel place and they had avocado! I haven't had avocado since I came to Europe, so I was quite pleased with the meal. After that we went to the Shonbrunn Palace, which is where Emperor Franz Josef lived. It reminded me of the Versailles Palace in Paris, but it was quite smaller. There were grounds surrounding the Palace, and another Christmas market in the area in front of the it. Europe's oldest zoo is at the Shonbrunn Palace too, but we didn't have time to go.

The gardens behind the palace

The Shonbrunn Palace

Europe's oldest zoo

After that we ventured into the city center in search of an exhibit Rachel had heard about, all of naked men at the Leopoldo museum. According to the exhibit, females are featured nude in art more often than men, but beginning in the 20th and 21st centuries there are more male representations, and that is what this exhibit was devoted to: "Nackte Manner" or "Nude Men" in German.

In the museum there was also an exhibit of Leopold's private art collection and a showing of Japanese art, which I really enjoyed. After the museum we ventured back out into the cold and went back to the Christmas market at the museum square I went to the night before. Rachel got a present for her family, and we shared some roasted chestnuts. Then we just walked around the city a bit before ending up back at our hostel to regroup before dinner.

We couldn't decide what we wanted to eat so we ended up at an Indian place, but it was delicious! I've missed any sort of Asian cuisine here in Europe. Then we got ready to go out, had a few drinks at the hostel bar and then went to this famous club called flex, which was in a renovated subway station right on the canal. The music was purely a techno beat, which is nothing like I've ever had at clubs in New York or Florence, but Rachel said that's super typical of Germany/Eastern Europe. You totally get lost in the beat and time flies. It was a great night!

Inside Flex

Rachel and I sadly had to part ways at the airport before checking in because we were in different terminals. But I was such a great weekend and I'm so glad we got to see each other, even if it was for such a short time. The last happy surprise of the trip was, when I was sitting at my gate I looked out the window and it was snowing! It's the first time I've seen snow this season, so I spent the rest of the time in the airport listening to Christmas music and feeling very festive. Needless to say it was a great last trip, and I'm ready to make the most of my last two weeks in Florence and get home in time for Christmas!

You can't see the snow really, but it's there!

New thing: Eastern European techno club