FIRENZE!

I totally forgot to mention something. I am going to Florence this weekend! We are going to the Opera in Ancona on Thursday night and the Friday morning four other girls and I are taking the Train to Florence for the weekend!! We already bought tickets to two museums ( The Academia and Uffizi). I can't wait! This weekend should be a lot of fun. I am also planning on meeting up with Lorelle's (an amazing friend from home) sister Amanda who moved to Florence last September. Can't wait!

Monday Night at Murphy's

Last night, Monday, was a Happy Day's theme at Murphy's.....SOOO FUNNY! The bartenders were dressed up as Happy Day's characters and they were just ridiculous!!!!!! There was a Richie, and Alfred and a Fonzarelli!

They posted signs all over the bar that said things like "Jefferson High" and "Guys" and "Dolls" for the bathrooms, but they ALL had spelling mistakes! SOO FUNNY!

They played lots of The Beatles and The Beach Boys and good oldies! So Fun! I have pictures of everything that I promise to post soon!!! Now, I need to go take a nap because I am still feeling the lack of sleep from last Saturday night!

Carnivale and discoteca

So Carnivale was this weekend! Actually, it ran from Thursday, Feb. 19th and continues through tonight, Feb. 24th. SOO much Carnivale! Every day there are celebrations in the Piazza del Popolo (our main piazza) and also in Piazza Roma. There are massive markets everyday (clothing markets) and just soo many things going on all at once!! I guess I'll start from the top.....

Last Thursday was the start of the festivities. The girls and I didn't really do much Thursday and Friday night. We just stayed around our favorite hangout.... Murphy's bar ...haha. They were having a different party every night depending on the day of Carnivale, so there was always something new to do there.

We also took those two nights easy in preparation for the big event... DISCOTECA on Saturday night. Saturday morning we were all rushing around trying to decide what we were going to wear to the discoteca that night. Eventually, I ended up borrowing this amazing dress from my friend...sooo cute. My roommate Christine and I were walking around with three other girls when we passed a hair salon. This was the first time that I really noticed a salon in Ascoli aside from the one that is inside our CRAZYILY SUAVE gym. We walked in so that I could buy some shampoo and my roommate (who has hair that is even more curly than mine....yes, it's possible) noticed that they did a really good job straightening hair. Needless to say, we were back at the salon four hours later getting our hair washed and prepped for some intense straightening.

We boarded the bus to San Benedetto in our finest (with our straight hair) and with four other girls. Unfortunately, at the next stop these four boys got on the bus. When I say boys, I mean 16 or 17 year olds that were completely enthralled with the fact that we were American. When I say enthralled, I mean they wouldn't leave us alone for the whole hour long bus ride to San Benedetto. Did I mention that they smelled like they hadn't taken a shower in....well.....their whole entire lives? My friend was actually starting to feel physically sick about half an hour into the epic journey that was our ride on l'autobus.

We arrived in San Benedetto and called our friend to come pick us up at the train station so that the sketchy boys wouldn't follow us....good times in Italy. After hanging out at his house for a little bit, we caught word that l'autobus di festa (PARTY BUS) was ready to go. We rode the bus (with 25 of our friend's other friends) for another hour to the discoteca. I have no idea where the discoteca was, I just know that it was called Lola, and that I was happy to finally arrive because there was just tooooo much italian yelling on the bus for me to handle at 1:30am. When the bus dropped us off, they said "OK! We'll be back to pick you up at 5am". I can't even describe my emotions in that moment...all I can say is that I am not made to stay up past 11pm....

We walked into the discoteca and were immediately blinded by the stobe lights. I literally thought that at LEAST one person in our group of 35ish people would go down with a seizure and I would have to whip out my lifesaving skills (but it's ok Kristin because I'm a lifeguard). Luckily there were no casualties to the discoteca lights. We danced forever...and ever...and ever...and eventually an hour went by....hahah only two to go. I made it until 5am and when we went to leave the discoteca some of the girls weren't allowed out. When you enter the discoteca, they give you an exit card that you have to present to the bouncer when you leave. If you don't show the card, you can't get out.

We finally snuck the two girls past the body guard and ran out of the discoteca. Ohhh the excitement of my life....Just when I thought the night was over, we realized that we had no CLUE where the bus was parked. At this point I just started running up and down the parking lot with two other guys looking for the stupid party bus that went missing. I was soooo happy I had been hitting up Tonic (the gym).

Finally we found the bus, and luckily it was bringing us back to Ascoli so that we wouldn't have to switch busses in San Benedetto, we would just have to stop to drop off a couple people...ok like 25 people...

We didn't get back to Ascoli until 7am......I WAS SOOOO EXHAUSTED! I had to was past a church on my way back to my apartment and this little old man was just staring at me in my party clothes...I felt like such an idiot! haha

Needless to say, I took a shower and went to sleep. I slept until two, did a massive cleaning of my apartment and went out with the girls to grab some pizza. That was honestly the best ending to an endless night...Teatro pizza....delicious.

Barcelona and Carnivale Weekend...

So I am super duper excited right now! Last night right after I finished up my blog, I packed up and got ready to leave. As I was walking out the door, my friend stopped me and told me she had some exciting news! There were tickets on Ryan Air from Ancona to Barcelona for only 35 Euro round trip!! SOO CHEAP!! So guess where I am going to be from March 5th till the 7th!!! BARCELONA!!! Finally!! I can communicate with people without stumbling over a language that I barely know and without having to resort to English! I am soo excited to go!

We converted the price and it came out to around $45 US dollars. Not bad for a flight huh? Granted we are not checking any bags, but we don't really need to because it is only for four days!

The other news I have to share today is about Carnivale here in Ascoli. Although Carnivale started last weekend in Venice, there is a huge celebration here in Ascoli Piceno this weekend. Apparently they are having a huge discotecha party in honor of Carnivale. If we took the bus to the discotecha, we would either have to leave at 12am.....which is an hour after the discotecha opens...or leave at 6am...which means I would be asleep on some nasty discotecha floor because I would crash!!

In order to solve this problem we came up with a very ingenious idea....WE ARE RENTING A PARTY BUS! YAY! Haha. The 16 of us are getting together with the guys we hang out with from San Benedetto and we are all going to chip in for a bus so that we can come and go from the discotecha as we please! SOO NICE!

I will be sure to update soon again! I have to stay on top of this blogging business or I end up with three massively long blogs to write like I had yesterday!

Teaching the Children!

Today was the first day of my practicum. I went to an Italian school in Ascoli Piceno, right over the bridge, to teach English to the Italian children that go to school there. They are soo cute! I am teaching ten year olds and they actually have a grasp on the language. I was very impressed. All the schools in Ascoli teach English so most of the people here have some knowledge of it.

The teacher picked me up at the pharmacy right near the piazza roma this morning at 7:50. We were at the school by 8 and I taught till 10. They asked me simple question like what my name was and where I lived. Then they threw me a curve ball and asked me my thoughts on Obama ....uhhh....no comment? haaha

I had italian class after that and then the girls an I headed to Tonic, our FAB gym. After the usual run, we headed to the "aquatics center". Can I just say, we left for the gym at 3pm, we didn't get back until 7pm!!! We went in the pool, the sauna, the steam room, the turkish bath AND the jaccuzi.

We were all starved when we got back and literally changed and were at Pizzaria Napoli in 20 mins. Now we are at Murphy's again...doing homework... well I guess I'm blogging, but I do have an Italian exam tomorrow and a lot to read for my history class, so I have to make this short. Can I just say that I love the fact that our new homework hangout is a BAR! where the bartenders know us all by our first names? hahaha

I LOVE ASCOLI!

Continued!!

Ok, so to pick up where I left off earlier.....

We watched the dance off and then started to head back to the hotel. While we were walking we thought that we would take a short cut....which in Venice usually equals a LONG LONG cut. All the bridges and stores look the same. The only ones that I can tell the difference between are Versace, Gucci and Prada....no dad, I didn't buy anything...no worries. So anyway, we got SUPER lost in Venice and no one wanted to take control of navigation. I grabbed the map and took about 20 mins to find our location, but once I figured it out we began our track back in the approximate direction of our hotel. I'm pretty sure that we zig zagged our way through the city haha. I can't even tell you how many times I told the girls I knew where we were when I actually didn't, just so that they wouldn't freak out.

We made it back safe and sound and in one piece. We finally made it to bed and I fell asleep sooo fast. Then, at 7:00am the students staying down the hall from us (with british accents so I am assuming they're from England), started knocking on our door saying "WAKE UP CALL!". Ohhh..I was not a happy camper....

We had breakfast at the hotel that day (I totally stocked up for all the walking I was doing since it was a buffet) and then we headed to the Peggy Guggenheim Colletion for a bit of art and culture. I am not really much of an abstract art fan, but I thought that the collection was really interesting. I actually saw my first Picasso so that was really really cool.

After the Guggenheim, I called up Alberto, our AMAZING family friend. He is a curator at the University Library and Museum in Venice. He showed me and two friends through the library and the museum which used to be the house of an aristocratic venetian family. SOOO COOL! Once again, I am unable to find the words in English or any other language (other than babbling) to describe what I saw and felt. Everything was so gorgeous. The floors were all slanting too because the foundation was crumpling in on itself since the building was built on mud. So cool...che figo. The he showed us the walled in garden where there was a FISH POND! Before we left, Alberto took us up to the terrace where we could see the entire skyline of Venice. It was so pretty seeing the Piazza di San Marco with the colums and ocean behind it. Picture are up on the blog! By the way, Alberto is THE BEST!

After seeing Alberto we met up with the other girls and decided that a gondola ride was in order. We found two guys that gave us a nice cheap price, and started off down the Grand Canale. They took us all through not only the Grand Canal, but also through the little side canals that run through Venice. Throughout the 40 min trip, my gondola driver, Umberto, gave us all a run down on the history of all the places we passed. I really feel that taking a gondola was one of the best ways to se the Venice.

After the gondola, we grabbed a bite to eat at a local pizzaria and then went on a mission to find carnivale masks. After finding the perfect masks (mine was red... oh la la), we went to the Piazza di San Marco, wearing our masks, to watch the famous comedian Dario Fo. So funny, and I only under stand some Italian.... On the way home, we grabbed crepes with nutella in them. So delicious. By the time it was 11pm, I was ready to sleep. I went back to the hotel and passed out...sooo tired but such a good day.

The next morning we grabbed breakfast again (and stocked up again) and headed out to do some final shopping. My ending total of things I bough in Venice is as follows:

Carnivale Masks: x3 ( I bought two more :)) = $35 (but euro not dollars)
Jewelery (Venetian glass...soo pretty) = non lo so (oops)
uhh........ = mi disculpa....

At 11:45 the whole group met in the Piazza di San Marco to watch the Volo del Angelo. Basically, they dress up a famous person and string them up to this long zipline. At 12pm, they drop them slowly down the line that runs over the Piazza. So interesting but scary because there were TONE of people there. Afterwards, when we were trying to go back to the hotel, there was a mosh pit of people and it was mass confusion. There was a complete standstill and people were pushing and shoving. I was pressed up against a glass window and I thought that I was going to break through it into the shop...not fun. I was actually pretty scared at that point because an older lady fainted in the middle of everything...not cool. The police came through and ushered her out though, and after that, things pretty much cleared up and we got the heck out of there.

We went back to the hotel, grabbed out stuff and walked the 20 mins to the bus station. The bus ride back to Ascoli was a little shorter than the ride there (by a half hour), but I only slept about an hour.

We got back, and literally in 15 mins. we were all at Murphy's, on our computers! LOVE MURPHS! Homework was done by 11 and then we went to get YOGI! SO delicious. They take fresh yogurt and mix in anything you wany. Naturally, I got nutella and bananas (I AM OBSESSED WITH NUTELLA! IT IS RIVALING PEANUT BUTTER. IF YOU KNOW ME, YOU KNOW I CAN NOT SURVIVE WITHOUT PEANUT BUTTER!). Yogi made the perfect end to a fun weekend.

I have to say that I was relieved when I got back to Ascoli. I missed it. I am already dreading the day that I have to leave... :(

Major Catch-up and Venezia!

Where do I even start?! I feel like it has been sooo long since the last time that I "blogged" haha.

Wednesday night we had the guys over for an American dinner since they had us over for dinner in San Benedetto last weekend. We thought that it would be fun to make them a traditional American meal....so we made them hamgurgers with the usual sides. They told us that they liked them....I hope that they weren't just saying that to make us feel good haha.

We had sooo many issues trying to cook them. Our apartment electricity is very very tempermental so we can only have one or two big appliances on at a time. If there are too many things on, we blow a circut and have to go outside to play around with the circut breaker and fix it....no fun, especially since that was the part of my physics class in high school where I always used to electricute myself. Where is Charlie when I need him???


This means that we can't use the stove and the oven at the same time..so annoying. Instead, we used the stove in the apartment downstairs from us, and used our oven upstairs. Everyone had fun at our apartment, and then we headed to Murphy's, our FAVORITE hangout haha. There are so many pictures that are taken in Murphy's. If you put them all together you could get a complete view of the bar!

Let's see....I joined the gym here in Ascoli last week. This gym is absolutely amazing. It is a normal gym on the top floor...workout equipment and weights....but downstairs it is like an aquatic paradise! And SOOO CLEAN! Amazing 25 meter pool and a turkish bath....so crazy! So that is my new favorite hangout! I am just waiting for my package from the US to arrive with my cap, goggles and swimsuit and I will be all set.

Now, on to Venezia! Venice was AMAZING! So much fun! We left Ascoli Piceno at 7am on Friday morning. When we woke up, is was SNOWING in Ascoli! SNOW! AH! The roads were covered and we were all slipping and sliding around with our luggage as we walked to the bus stop.

We took the bus to Venice, and the ride there was about 6 hours. Can I just say that I NEVER sleep on transportation of ANY kind just because it is impossible for me. Even on the drive to Florida, I barely slept. Somehow, on this bus ride to Venice, I passed out for the WHOLE TRIP! CRAZY! It was really nice though because I woke up and we were there! I got my first glimpse of the ocean/sea for the first time since being home and it was SOOO nice to see open water. Such a comfort! I can't even explain it!

When we arrived in Venice we had to drop our things off at our hotel (Hotel Messner) and then run out again because we had a scheduled tour of the Chiesa di San Marco. This is the MASSIVE church in Saint Marc's Square. There are tons of pictures of it in my photo album! Unfortunately, I could only take pictures of the outside because cameras were not allowed inside the church. I can't even describe the amazing paintings and mosaics and sculptures...EVERYTHING!! was so gorgeous! I can not understand how a people can be so creative! These massive buildings were built so long ago!

Out tour guide was telling us that the buildings in Venice are very characteristic of the city beause they are all for show. Apparently, Venice focuses more on what is on the outside i.e. masks for carnivale!! Venice was built on wood beams that are stuck in the mud, so the buildings can't be too heavy or they will sink. In order to keep the buildings afloat, but still pretty, the Venetian architects build the actual buidlings with wood, but covered the outside with marble. SO cool and smart! This way they are light, but still gorgeous! Che figo!!

So after our tour of the church we toured the Palazo Ducale, or the Doge Palace! AMAZING! I know I keep saying that everything was amazing, but it really way! I have never experienced anything like this in my entire life! The paintings and sculptures on the ceilings alone were enought to keep me standing there looking upwards for DAYS!

That night we had dinner at the hotel. DInner was...shall we say...less than desirable. Pasta with tuna and some sort of fish with spinach. It sounds like it would be ok....but it wasn't. Haha That night we went out looking for something fun to do. I called up Andrea's niece Martina and asked her about the night life in Venice. She basically said that there are two places to go....both of which were a hike from out hotel. We decided to hit up the Ponto Realto haha. Ponto Realto is one the the famous bridges in Venice.

We crossed the Ponto Realto and came upon this massive party! So crazy! It was a big outdooe dance party. We hung out there for a little bit and then, out of no where, this dance off just exploded in the middle of the croud. There were all these people dressed up in carnivale outfits having a dance-off! HOW AMERICAN IS THAT?! I have to say, one of the only things that I did not like about Venice was how touristy and american it seemed. The clerks in the shops didn't even try to speak italian with us, they would just automatically speak to us in English. I have to say, that I really appreciate that about Ascoli.

Anyway, yeah, dance-off....After that, we decided to head back to the hotel because it was late and we were tired from our long day. More to come!! Read the next blog!

Classes and such

I had my first Italian class yesterday....SO difficult. The actual language isn't too bad but I mix EVERYTHING with Spanish. We just learned basic stuff yesterday and today but the little add-on words are getting to me like..."di" versus "de" and "e" versus "y". Ohh Spanish.

It does help out though. The other day I went to the hardware store to get an adapter. When the guy behind the counter eventually realized that I am literally unable to communicate anything other than what I want to eat in Italian, we tried English but that didn't help either. So then I said "Parlo spagnolo" and he started talking to me in Spanish! hahaha Sooo funny! But it worked out and I got an adapter for my 3-prong plug on my computer. Oh the joys of language.

Since I have been here I have realized just how "american" my fashion is. I feel like I only have a select few items in my closet that I feel comfortable wearing here. Its funny because I brought enough clothes that I picked out especially for this trip out of allll my clothes at home, and I still feel like I need new stuff....maybe that is just stemming from my shopaholic tendencies...I don't really know.. haha

It is also hard to wear my clothes because we don't have dryers. We wash our clothes and then hang them to dry. I usually shrink my jeans when I dry them so that they are nice and snug after they come out. When they drip dry here, they're all baggy....eehhhh...

Ok, time for me to go. It is almost 4pm and all the shops are going to open up after their afternoon lunch break! New shirts and jeans....here I come.

Sitting in "The Murphy's"

So I am sitting here in "The Murphy's" chatting online and checking e-mail. So weird! I am sitting in a ber doing homework and drinking a cafe macchiato. So fun. Umm so I should update you on the happenings here in Ascoli Piceno.

Last night we went to San Benedetto del Tronto for a party at our friend Giovanni's house. It was so much fun. We just hung out and met some more of the local folk :) San Benedetto is right near the beach. Giovanni's house was something like a 5 minute walk to the beach. How nice is that?!

Things have been good this weekend. We have been going out pretty much every night but just to be social but we have already made tons of friends. I love it. We go to the same bar every night and now the bar tenders know our names! SO funny!

We are finally going to start "real" classes tomorrow...unfortunately. I can not picture myself doing homework here haha. I'm pretty sure that that's a bad thing!

Today I went for a walk through the hills of Ascoli with some of the girls. We took the prettiest pictures! They are going to be up soon, probably tomorrow because it takes too long to load pictures here in the bar. These pictures pretty much speak for themselves. Gorgeous country shots and a couple of the architecture around the outskirts of the city!

I went for a run this morning just to explore the city a little bit by myself. Don't worry Daddy....I stayed on main roads...One road twisted down under a bridge and I had to run back through the gates of the old city to get back to the apartment...SO PRETTY! Ascoli is actually a gated medieval city so the only way to enter or exit the city is through an archway in the wall that surrounds the city, and then over a bridge because a river also surrounds the city. SO COOL!

Miss you all!!

Getting Settled

I am beginning to get accustomed to life around here. Silly little things happen here that just had to get used to. For example, the shops and businesses close from 1-4 in the afternoon, but I am getting used to things! So fun! I have to run, but I will try and blog a couple times a week. It's hard to keep up now because we only have internet access in the cafe or at school and all I want to do is BE OUTSIDE! It is so gorgeous!

My first experience in the open market!

Today was a little less interesting than the other days. Usual breakfast at the cafe (still amazing), class stuff....blah. Then we walked to the post office to get a packet for the permisso del soggiorno. It is an application to stay longer than 90 days in Italy. My visa says 130 days so I need added permission to stay that long.

After the little trip to the post office I hit up the open market. SO MUCH STUFF FOR SO LITTLE MONEY! I got a beautiful scarf for 5 euro. The man gave us a deal because we were "ragazzi americane". Love it! Discounts for being american. Then I decided it was time to boot shop. All the women here wear leather boots and I had to find some!!! After a little bit of searching and trying TONS of boots, I finally found a pair of brown leather boots for 30 euro! SOOO GOOD!!!

I grabbed lunch after, and then ran to class again.

After class we grabbed gelato, but I was so tired from the night before I ate it and then took a nap. I woke up, showered, had dinner in and went to "sleep" at 10. I didn't finally fall asleep until 2:30 though. I guess the time change is affecting me more than I thought!

Gotta run! Time to explore and hit the market again! My new mission is BLACK leather boots! haha

Our first date with some Italians!

Today was the first full day in Ascoli Piceno. We stared off the day by visiting a historic cafe. I think it is hilarious that all of these Italian women are sooo skinny, yet they still eat pastries every morning with their breakfast! Now I know why my Nanno always likes his cookies in the morning. I had a creme filled crossaunt. AMAzing. That and a delicious cappuccino.

The coffee here is so amazing. Dunkin Doughnuts literally tastes like petrified swamp water compared to the delicious cafe they serve here. Their coffee is much darker and much more bold than ours. They do serve a lighter coffee, but it is called "Cafe Americana"....go figure!

After our breakfast we did some school stuff, mostly orientation. We got a walking tour of the city and there is so much to do here! Ascoli seems like a small town compared to Rome, but there are still sooo many things to do. There is even a movie theatre right down the street from out apartments. As I was walking through a little old man passed me and said "Bellisima Ragazza!". I love it haha. They just stop you around here to tell you that you're pretty! Soooo funny.

The food here is ridiculous! Everything that you try tastes good. They could make poop taste good here. For lunch today, our professors took us to the cafe next to the building our "school" is in. School is in quotations because it is literally an office with a couple rooms and a bathroom. Even though it is an office building, all of the ceilings are are painted and curved. They are GORGEOUS!! Pictures will be up soon!Anyway, I had a salad for lunch and it was simple but sooo good. Mixed greens, olives, fennel, tomatoes and tuna. The dressing was just a little olive oil, salt and lemon. SOOOO dilectible.

After our school we walked around a bit and then got ready to meet our first Italians. We were meeting Giovanni and his cousin Gino for dinner at 9:30. Yes, 9:30 pm...They eat dinner super late here. Giovanni is friends with one of the program directors and he was set-up as a speaking partner with one of the girls who was here this summer and came back with us. We gave his cousin the nickname of Papa Gino! So funny! We went to a cute pizzaria that I thought was this little hole in the wall but the restaraunt extended through three massive rooms. I got a Pizza Bianca con Zucchini. So good. I know I keep saying that but I don't know what else to say! It is all sooo delicious. Delizioso!

After dinner we headed to "The Murphy's" which, funny enough, is like an Irish bar in Italy. WE got drinks there with Giovanni and Gino and hung out and talked for sooo long. While I was waiting for my drink at the bar another old man....like 70 years old old, kept saying "bella ragazza! Belissima cara! Ragazza Americana! SO funny....until he started to pet my face..uhhh i don't really appreciate it when old men pet my face...

Before I knew it, it was 1:30am and we all had class the next day at 9am. Needless to say, we all decided to leave since we had class early. It was an amazing day!

WOW! What a trip...

Oh my GOD! How do I even begin to describe what has happened over the last two days (or is it three? one? this time change thing is still a little difficult for me haha).

Lets start at the airport shall we? I checked my luggage (everything was under 50 pounds thank god, and went through security without a hitch. I boarded my flight, and shortly after was flying to Rome! The plane was practically empty. There were like 75 people tops on a massive transatlantic plane. This was amazing because that left A LOT of empty seats which I then proceeded to help fill. About an hour into the flight, I was sprawled out over two seats. By the time we hit the three hour mark, I had all four seats of a middle section of plane to myself....AMAZING!

So I almost died laughing when I was what I would be watching for the first movie during my flight (they showed two total). THE MOVIE WAS MAMA MIA!!!!!!! All I could think about was my mom, Andrea, my aunt Nay and my father (mostly my father because he would have wanted to DIE if he was forced to watch that). When Mama Mia was over they showed the Dark Knight, but I fell asleep...oops...

When I landed in Rome I had to take the Leonardo Express to the Termini train station in Rome. This is where the two girls I was travelling with and I met up with another girl in our program. We hung around Termini for a little while and grabbed lunch. My first food in Italy was soooo yummy, and I got it from a fast food place in the train station!!! It was called something like Chef Express or something.... It was a little loaf of bread, cut in half, with some proschuito, tomato, lettuce and mozarella cheese. Delizioso!!!!

After that we began the 7 block trek to the bus station (but NOT after seeing a few gypsies with "babies" who were asking for money... ALLIE!!!). We ended up going in a bit of a round about way so I am assuming that our "little trek" eventually became 10 blocks instead of 7. That doesn't sound toooooo bad, but you have to remember that I was carring a heavy purse and lugging two 49 pound suitcases over cobblestone streets and sidewalks.

Haha, at one point I think that we were walking past the UK or Russian (or something) Embassy and there were ARMED GUARDS just casually walking around with M16s in hand...you know...no biggie.

So we had about an hour to kill by the time we reached the train station. We landed in Rome at 7:21, grabbed the 9:06 train to Termini (our luggage took FOREVER to come out), arrived in Termini at around 9:40, got lost in the train station for a little bit, met our friend at 11:30 and were at the bus station by 1pm, which is actually 7am eastern time. Our bus didn't leave until 2:30 so we grabbed some pizza (which was AMAZING by the way Andrea) and each had a glass of wine. Haha that was soo strange for me. I ordered my pizza and they just assumed that I wanted wine with it haha.

The bus ride was bittersweet. The sights were amazing. Cliffs and hairpin turns all throughout the trip. When I say that Ascoli Piceno is in the middle of a mountain range, I am not kidding....It literally is between two mountains! CRAZY!! The only bad part of the bus was the man sitting two seats behind me that got carsick the whole way... GROSS!! THREE HOURS OF PUKING!!

When we arrived in Ascoli Piceno and met up with our program directors who showed us to our apartments... all I have to say about them is AMAZING!!!!! SOO GORGOURS! They are new apartments and are literally luxury apartments. My room has a bathroom attached and I slept in a queen size bed last night... They are situated right in the middle of town and are a five minute walk from ANYWHERE! AMAZING!!!!

Everything here is so gorgeous!