Remember me?
So now that the internet is fixed, exams are out of the way, pics are up, and it’s time to leave again …. I’m finally ready to fill you in on what’s been going on! It’s been a long week of intense studying for miserable midterms, but there’s nothing I’d rather do than take a breather & feel like I’m talking to all of you on the good ol’ Tumblr. Anyway … I guess it’s been three weeks since I went to Nice. It was such an incredible weekend… Colleen and I went not knowing what to expect at all and by the end of the weekend we were daydreaming about staying forever. We went with a company that books travel for students, so it was nice to have everything taken care of for us. It was a long (but beautiful, even in the dark) bus ride to the Riviera, so when we got to our hotel around 2AM, we met our 4 roommates and went right to bed. The next day, we slept in and met our group around noon to head to Monaco. The train to Monte Carlo was cheap, quick, and again, gorgeous – they don’t call it the Cote du Azur for nothin’! The bright sun hitting the glassy blue water was enough to make me forget it was winter. It didn’t hurt that we had perfectly clear weather all weekend either! We walked around Monte Carlo for a while, saw the palace and the gardens, the usual churches and museums, and ended the day at the casino. I only played with 15 euro, just for the experience, but I think it’s safe to say my gambling career is over. The next two days were spent enjoying Nice. We shopped, ate, and wandered just like I do in every city. Somehow it never gets old! The best part by far was the beach. Even though it was a chilly 50 degrees, the sun was out and the water was warm – I would have gone swimming if I had had a bathing suit and a warm towel to dry off with! We also met up with Alyssa (roommate from Loyola) and her mom, and it was really great to see them. As I said, we all absolutely fell in love with the south of France. Everything was amazing. The parades for carnival were loud and colorful and crazy, and the city was all decorated and alive with people. We also met a whole bunch of interesting and incredibly nice people. Our first European friends! They were so willing to help us with everything from having a good time to learning the language and finding our way around. The experience definitely shattered any negative expectations I had about the French. All in all, it was an incredible trip. The next weekend was Rome. Also incredible! We saw all of the important sites, sampled all of the necessary food (apparently the bread, gelato, and coffee are better there… they might be right!), and made it back to Florence by Saturday night. I love Rome and definitely want to go back, but I’m so happy to live in Florence. Even now that tourist season has started here, it is still less overwhelming and so much more beautiful. I know I made the right decision to come here! Almost caught up now … this past weekend was a full 3 days of FIRENZE!
