Roma... Finally!

Hello!

From Figline we took a train south to Rome! We checked into a hostel near the train station (not the best neighborhood) and spent the day relaxing.

This morning we took a taxi to our apartments the school assigned us. They are so nice! Our apartment consists of two bedrooms (two people in one room, three in our room), a kitchen, bathroom and living room. We have hard wood floors and marble counters! Everyone is very pleasant and helpful here.

Tomorrow we have orientation and we start school on Tuesday.

I will update you soon!

Love,

Kalyn

Under the Tuscan Sun

Hello All this post is for June 27-28!

Under the Tuscan Sun

After our long night in Venice, we packed up and caught a train to a small town outside of Florence called Figline (pronounced Fa-lee-nay). This took us to the charming country side of Tuscany, of which we have all seen so many pictures. It is just like those pictures and the movies! I love the rolling hills, lush landscape and pleasant people. Every spot is green and vineyards cover most hillsides.

We had booked a hostel called Norcenni Girasole Club, not really knowing what to expect for only 13 Euros (approximately $19.50 USD) a night. A shuttle bus picked us and to our surprise took us to a family style resort. This place was amazing! There were at least five different restaurants, multiple pools, horseback riding and many more activities. The compound covered miles and miles of ground, all at our disposal. There was even a Disco (dance club) for the younger crowd.

When we got settled in our own private cabin, we set out for the pool. The olympic size pool had two different waterslides, a water polo pool, and a few other odd pools surrounding it. We kept wondering how we got so lucky!

That night we ate at one of the restaurants at the resort and went to the Disco. It was definitely very entertaining. In Italy there is no legal drinking age, you just have to be 16 to buy alcohol. There were younger kids everywhere drinking, but there were just using it to socialize, not to “get drunk” like most kids in the United States. However, not many people our age were here, as it was more of a family resort. At the Disco, the kids were kind of separated, just like a junior high dance. We went and danced out on the floor anyway though! I’m sure we got a lot of stares, haha!

The next day we booked a tour of Chianti country. A charter bus took us to two different vineyards were they gave us a tour of the vineyardes and explained the processes used to create the wine. The first vineyard we went to was a very quaint family owned operation. They cooked and served us a few different Tuscan dishes, all with bread they had freshly baked in their outdoor brick oven. Everything was so good! With the light lunch, they served us three different wines. The first was a Merlot, the second a Chianti, and the third a sweet desert wine. The next vineyard was a much bigger operation, headquartered in a Villa built in 1492. They took us down into their personal wine cellar, where the oldest wine dated back to 1945! This wine is not meant to be served anymore, as it is too old; but a bottle could go for over 10,000 Euros (approximately $15,000 USD)! Under the wine cellar was where the wine was put in huge wooden holding tanks to mature. One was open and I could stand comfortably inside of it! After the tour, we tasted the different wines. All of them were so good!

That is it for now! I will post again when I have internet! Hope all is well!

Love, Kalyn

Venice Day 2!

Ciao!

This post is for June 26.

Sorry I have not posted in awhile, we haven’t had internet!

To continue where I last left you in Venice, the next day we took the ferry boat down to San Marco Square. At one end of the square is Basilica di San Marco. This other-worldly spectacle has luminous angels trumpeting their horns on the way into the Basilica’s vast inside. The ceiling is covered in what seems like an infinite glittering mosaic and the floors are beautiful marble. We were awed by the mosiac ceiling, which was constructed from the 11th to the 15 century. As we stood from the roof of the church, we could see the entire square stretched out before us. We also saw the awesome views of the square from the St. Mark's Campanile tower.

We toured the whole square, which has an array of shop and restuarants lining it. The shops carried Murano glass, from the near by island of Murano, Carnivale masks, which is celebrated in Febuary, and many other souveniers and nick-nacks. Our favorite were the artists which lined the water front with their hand-painted masterpieces. Jill and I both bought a beautiful painting each; her’s from pastel and mine oil. We can’t wait to get them home and frame them! Jill made a goal of trying to find a small painting from each spot we visited so she could remember her trip there.

After the square, we trekked back to the hostel, but first stopped in a small square right by our residence to buy some Carnivale masks. These are beautiful masks covered in glitter, feathers and hand-painted. Jill also bought another small painting from a street vendor.

That night we attended a performance of “Venice: Behind the Mask” put on by a small theater group in the theater Teatro San Gallo. It told the story of the history of Venice and why they wore masks for Carnivale. Ancient Venetian men were apparently very mischevious and like to get up to no good... even with ladies in waiting and Nuns! They wore the masks so no one would know their identity if they were seen. There were several other reasons for the tradition of Carnivale. You can read about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnival_in_Italy

After the performance, we tried some tiramisu at a beautiful restaurant on the water. I don’t really like coffee too much, but apparently it was good! We met some locals and went and had a few drinks at a neighborhood bar with them and then caught the ferry back to the hostel.

Apparently the hostel has a curfew... and we missed it. When we arrived at the door, we were locked out. We tried to find a number we could call, but no luck. Finally, we had to ring the very loud doorbell of the hostel and had to wake everyone up. Needless to say, they weren’t too happy. Oh well, they never informed us of the curfew time!

That’s it for Venice!

Love, Kalyn

The City of Water- Venezia!

Venice

Check my facebook page for more pictures!

Buon Giorno!

Today we traveled to the city of Venezia or Venice. The trip here was very interesting, to say the least. We woke up at 4:30 am to get ready to go to the train station in Milan. Our train was leaving at 6:35 am, but we had to take the time to get over there and get our tickets sorted out. When we finally boarded the train, we were exhausted so naturally we decided to take a nap on the two and half hour ride. However, thirty minutes down the track, the train broke down in a tiny unknown city. All of the instructions on what to do when we got off the train were in Italian, which we have little understanding of. Some nice girls from Portugal helped us and got us on the right path after about 20 minutes of confusion. When we boarded the second train, there was no seats available, so we had to sit on top of our luggage on the floor. After we were on the second train for about an hour, we had to switch over to two more trains to make it to Venice. But when all was said and done, we made it safe and sound!

Venice is wonderful. I have never seen anything quite like it. Everything is a separate island, approximately 117, as we were informed by our Gondolier (more about that in a minute), and those islands are connected by over 100 bridges. When we got off the train, we purchased a very useful map and tried to follow it to our hostel. Keep in mind that we had to cross huge bridges with our full luggage. The streets do not have very good signage, and every time we tried to follow a route, we ended up on some tiny street not on the map. Finally, a gondolier offered us a ride to our hostel, even with our immense load of luggage. We killed two birds with one stone, got to our destination and got to ride in an authentic Venetian gondola! The gondola was very nice, and our gondolier sang to us as he navigated the tricky canals. Without his help we would probably still be wandering the streets of Venice.

Our hostel is actually in a palace built by the famous Morosini family more than 400 years ago. Everyone has been very nice, except that we booked the hostel for one night, and somehow through a mixup in some online connection, they had us booked for two nights. They cannot give us a refund, because we did not notify them 48 hours before of the cancellation. That made us a bit mad, but there is nothing we can really do, and staying in Venice for an extra day and night is not a bad thing at all.

After we settled into the hostel, we made the trek to Venice beach. It was actually very simple, we just caught a water shuttle that took us straight to the island of Lido and from there it was a five minute walk. The beach was extremely crowded, but we managed to find a spot right by the water. The water was refreshing and a bit chilly, but felt good after laying out a while in the warm sun. We rented a small paddle boat with a water slide on top and took that out for awhile. It was very fun and entertaining sliding down the slide while trying to keep the light boat from running into swimmers and buoys.

Back at the hostel, they provided a three-course Italian dinner for us which was very tasty. They planned a group outing to a few bars, but we are exhausted after this very long day, so tonight we are catching up on some much needed sleep!

That's all for now!

Love,

Kalyn

Day 2 in Milan

Duomo

For the rest of my pictures please go to my Facebook!

Here is a link: http://www.facebook.com/kalynpaigedavidson

The pictures are in the album named "Milan"!

Hello!

Today we woke up a little late after having a long night. Last night we went to a few local bars on a canal with some friends we met at the hostel. The atmosphere is so relaxed and nice!

When we woke, Jill and I decided to walk to the Duomo. The Duomo is amazing! It took six centuries to complete and is the fourth largest cathedral in the world! The first thing we saw were the spires from a couple blocks away, then we started making a beeline for the Galleria (Mall) right next to it. Finally, we stumbled into a huge square right in front of the Duomo. The size took us totally by surprise! All of the hand carved marble is breathtaking! I cannot imagine the amount of work that it took to make that masterpiece. Link to information on the Duomo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milan_Cathedral

After we finished gawking over the Duomo, we walked through the Galleria. Prada, Gucci and Louis Vuitton have huge stores, which we walked through; though sadly we could not afford anything. Link to information on the Galleria: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galleria_Vittorio_Emanuele_II

We kept walking when we exited the Galleria, and came upon Castello Sforzesco. This 14th century castle is immense and imposing. Throughout the years, it has been used for various things, such as military barracks. In 1800 the government almost destroyed it, but thankfully they came to their senses. It was restored after that and made into a museum; which we toured. Link to Castello Sforzesco: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castello_Sforzesco.

When we walked out the back of the castle, huge beautiful green lawn stretched before us and at the end was the Arch of Peace. This stunning arch was ordered to be constructed in 1806 by Napoleon, but after his fall construction ceased, and it was not completed until 1833. Link to information on Arch of Peace: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arch_of_Peace

That's all for now! Hope all is well for everyone!

Love,

Kalyn

In Milan!

Hello All!

Jill and I arrived in Milan this morning around 10:30, Milan time. We didn't have any trouble with our baggage luckily! When we were trying to figure out which bus to take, we were run around a little bit, but we eventually figured it out.

We took the bus to the Central Station, which is the main portal for train transport in Milan. From there, we took a taxi to our hostel. Our driver was kind and helpful to us and we only spent 9 Euros.

Our hostel isn't the best, but it will suffice for now. It is in a residential area of Milan, very nice and quiet. When we unloaded all of our belongings, Jill and I set out to look for a spot to get a good meal. The square across from our hostel has a few restaurants, so we decided to just pick the first one.... Of course we happen to pick a Mexican Grill! Haha! We didn't realize until we looked at the menu and saw fajitas and enchiladas. After our realization, we promptly left and went and found a small coffee bar with a few pasta dishes and paninis.

Then, we kept exploring and walked quite far. We saw part of the Duomo, but didn't go today because it was closing for the day. We plan to go tomorrow though!

Well that's it for now, I will post again soon!

Love,

Kalyn

Airport

Hello everyone!

Today we arrived at the airport at 7:00 am for our 10:25 am flight. However because of the inclement weather, American Airlines cancelled all of their flights from Houston and they transferred us to Continental Airlines. All went smoothly after that little mishap.

Jill and I flew to Miami to catch our connecting flight, where the weather is beautiful and sunny (what else would you expect from Miami?). As of now, we are waiting in the terminal on our flight to Italy, which has been pushed back an hour.

That's all for now! I will post an update when we arrive in Milan!

Love,

Kalyn

Introduction

Hello All!

I have created this web page to help keep everyone important in my life stay updated about my daily life while I am in Italy!

I will post updates and pictures as often as I can, so everyone can be involved and hopefully enjoy my trip as much as I will. Be sure to check this page every couple days for updates!

I am so excited to be able to share my experiences and adventures!

Love,

Kalyn