So I guess I should start off where I left off…
PARIS Day 2 January, 27, 2011
So this day, we had to wake up early in the morning and had a private guided tour of Paris. Julian, our tour guide was awesome and full of useful information. Oddly enough, I knew a lot of that stuff he was talking about, I guess I have been really interested in Paris with out even knowing it. He just took us around to the major tourist sites and I definitely took lots of photos. I should start a blog just for my photos, since just on the pre-tour I took about 2,000! So after our tour was done, we were dropped off at the Eiffel Tower. There we went up to the 2nd story, since the first story was getting worked on. It was an amazing view of Paris but at the same time freezing and windy! So we didn't stay up there long. We then went back down and got into a group of about 10-12 people. From there, we jumped onto the Metro and went up a few blocks. We walked to the Musee de l'Armee and jus looked around the building. It cost money to get in so we didn't go inside. Then we went on a long journey to find Rodin's museum. We finally found it which happened to be a block up from the Musee de l'Armee. I saw the Thinker and Gates of Hell which were absolutely beautiful! I also saw lots of other works done by him, it was amazing! Then we went on another long journey to find some food. Surprisingly, that area lacked food. We finally found one and sat down and ate for a good 30-45mins.
The waiter did not like us that much, either because we were American or there was a huge group of us. So that was one of the low points of Paris. Then we split off into groups because half of us wanted to go to the Louve and the other half wanted to go do something else. So I went with the group to get to the Louve. We took our time getting there, did a few touristy pictures then arrived at the Louve. We got there around 5 o'clock at night and to our dismay, the museum closed at 5:30. I was CRUSHED! It is obviously hard traveling around big cities like that with 10-11 people so I think that slowed us down but also at the same time we weren't really paying attention to the time or even knew when the museum closed. That was the lowest point of my whole trip because I wanted to at least spend an hour or two in there, knowing that wouldn't really cover a lot of ground. So I decided to make the effort and go back to Paris sometime this trip. Lets hope it all works out.So later that night, about the same number of girls all got together and we all went out to fondu. I was the one leading the way to the place but at some point I forgot the street name and wifi on my phone wasn't really working so I kind of got us lost. We finally found it but had to wait an hour to get a table because the place was very small and there were already a lot of people waiting for seats. We went around the corner and got some beer and wine while we waited. Then we finally sat down and I fell in love with the place. It was adorable and very full of life. There were writings all over the wall, people signing it pretty much. Right behind me, someone from Standford had signed it, so that was neat. And something I learned about Paris is that wine in a glass is taxed and to avoid that tax, people put wine in baby bottles. I thought that was a brilliant idea! So we got all our wine in bottles and a few other drinks were included with the meal as well. It was 18 Euros per person and that included the appetizers, which was just meat, cheese, pickles and some other random stuff, wine, some rose and the fondu. We got the cheese fondu because we didn't really understand the guy and it was okay.
The girls next to us got the meat one and I hear that was way better then the cheese. But the whole environment there was amazing, we all had a blast. We also met some girls from Italy and pretty much hung out with them the whole night. We left the fondu place around 12 o'clock and people were still coming in to eat, so it was a very poppin' place. I recommend it to anyone visiting Paris, it is called 'Refuge des Fondus.' Then we started to walk back to the hotel and decided to hit up this one bar called O'Sullivans which was right down the street from our Hotel. We met a few other French people there and some people from Boston area too. We danced, had a few drinks and it was fun. Then we all went home to the hotel. So overall, my experience in Paris was a great success! I could see myself living there or visiting it very often. :DLONDON Day 1 January 28, 2011
So our train to London from Paris left around 12 so we had to leave the hotel around 10:45. We arrived at the train station and there we had to go through French customs and England customs. Some people were taking photos and what not and I was like 'Oh yeah, I should document our entry into London.' Stupid American. I was about to take a picture and the lady at the desk yelled at me and made me come forward. She wanted me to delete my photo that I had taken and scorned me for taking a photo. I showed her that I didn't take a photo but she said that she saw a flash and I told her it wasn't me. She then gave me an evil stare the rest of the time I was there. I didn't use my common sense and had no idea that you couldn't take a picture. Something I have learned from this trip is you pretty much have to make mistakes to learn from them. So I think that incident through me off and I wasn't as excited to get to London, plus they already hated me. So the train ride wasn't that bad at all. It was about 2 hours and everyone except a few of us fell asleep. Now I wish I slept on the train because the moment we arrived in London, I was completely brain dead. I met up with a few girls and we went to a few museums. We went to the some Natural Museum, I actually forgot the name of it. Then we went down to the V&A museum which had some pretty amazing stuff. The awesome thing about London is all the museums are FREE!! I wish America did that because paying $60 to go to a museum is ridiculous. So after the V&A, I literally had run out of steam and decided to go back home. I ran into a few girls and they were going to get some food so I joined them because I didn't want to go to bed with an empty stomach. We went to a pub down the street from our hotel and I got some yummy fish and chips. It was very good but I really had no more energy so I went back to the Hotel and pretty much went to sleep.LONDON Day 2 January 29, 2011
So, this was our last day in London. We got on the bus around 9 and Heather, our tour manager gave us a guided tour till around 4:45. She is pretty much amazing. I couldn't have asked for anyone better. For about an hour we drove around the major sites. Then we stopped at Westmister Abbey. That place was so beautiful! Inside the church, I got to see all the graves of the major kings as well as major people such as Darwin and Dickens and I definitely got to walk on their 'graves' I felt very special. 
We walked around the Abbey for an hour or so then headed out and had free time. I took pictures in front of Big Ben and photo bombed a few tourist photos. Then we jumped back on the bus and traveled a little more then arrived at this shopping, tourist area and were dropped off for a couple hours.From there a friend and I went and walked towards the National Gallery where protests were being held by students who wanted to bring down the cost of schooling. I wanted to get some cool pictures from it but we got there and the protests had already moved to a different location. But there was another protest there that caught my eye, it was something about protesting against Police officers. I never really understood what it was about but I got some cool shots of it. After that, we goofed around that plaza area and then heading back towards where our bus had dropped us off and we grabbed some yummy Indian food. It was pretty amazing, especially since I know I won't be able to get any Indian food for a while. Then we got back on the bus and went for a quick stop at the Royal Palace and took some photos there. Then back on the bus and did a few more touristy shots then were dropped back off at the hotel around 4:45. From there a few of us wanted to go catch a show, like Les Miserables so we all headed to the downtown area. We got there and it was sold out! We checked out a few other plays and they were all sold out so we were pretty bummed but decided just to go out and eat instead. It took us about an hour to find a place, which surprised me how hard it was to find a place to eat in that area. We found this irish pub place that served food all night and it seemed to have a really awesome environment. 
It was three stories with a outdoor terrace on top. The first floor was mainly seating, the second floor had a bar, seating and a place for a band to play. The third floor was a dance floor and also another bar and a stage. Hanging out on the terrace reminding me of Mary Poppins, well all the roofs did so that was enjoyable. We met a few random people there. People from the London area and form Italian guys who were promoting something, I never really caught what it was but they dressed up in bright clothes and nerdy looking outfits. Overall, it was a fun night and London isn't my number one destination but I can see it growing on me.FLORENCE Day 1 January 30, 2011
We all had to meet down in the hotel lobby around 6am. We then took the bus to the Heathrow airport and hopped on a plane to Florence. The plane ride wasn't that bad at all, it was about 2 hours or so. Once we landed in Pisa, I think I fell in love. Tuscany is so beautiful. Even when the weather is gross, I can see its beauty. We then took a bus from Pisa to Florence which took about an hour and it was pretty much just one big scenic route. We arrived at our hotel in Florence which was pretty nice. We were the first group there, and a few stragglers who took their own way to Florence. Nothing really exciting went on this day because everyone was gradually coming in. I finally got to see my friend Erin, who is my roommate her in Florence so that was awesome. We all went to a local restaurant and got some food. I think traveling really wears me out because I was pretty pooped after all of that and very dehydrated so I went back to the hotel room after dinner and went to bed. I figured I am going to be living in Florence for the next 3 months that there is no rush to do things. Plus I had no idea how my apartment was going to be so I wanted to take full advantage of the lush hotel living one last time.FLORENCE Day 2 January 31, 2011
So this was the big day, we were going to get our apartments! We all checked out of the hotel and then went to a meeting room where we had a 2 hour orientations, just covering major points. Safety, travel, living, food, school, etc. Then group by group we were all sent out to our apartments by taxi. Probably about an hour later we got our taxi and went about 10 mins from our hotel to our, how should I put it, amazing apartment. Literally a few feet away is the Duomo. It is hard to describe the experience of waking up every morning to the Duomo right there. Every night going to sleep, the Duomo glows and lights up everything surrounding it. Our apartment is on the top floor of the building, so we have to walk up about 4 and a half flights of stairs. After a few days of doing it, I know it is going to kick my ass. We have a lift but I don't like small spaces and I don't trust it even though its pretty new, I rather just get some exercise. Our apartment is very small compared to everyone else's but the view makes up for everything. To get to our apartment you have to walk through an open terrace. So we pretty much have our own terrace, and if we open all our windows we have a panoramic view of the Duomo, simply beautiful. So we have a small living room and dinning room that are connected. A small kitchennet that is inclosed and looks like cabinets. It's very small but also very charming and has lots of character. Then our room is separated by a wall that doesn't connect to the ceiling so its pretty much like a studio. Surprisingly there was plenty of room in the wardrobes for our stuff so we evenly placed everything out between the two of us. And yes, there are only two of us living together. Everyone else either lives with 3 - 6 other people so in a way we lucked out but at the same time, we don't really get that satisfaction of meeting and getting to know other people. 
So around 4 o'clock that day, we met up with one of our student service people and they gave us a quick guided tour of our surrounding areas to give us an idea of what was around us. My roommate and I went back to our place because my friend who has been living here since August was going to stop by. She stopped by and then we walked about 10-15 mins to her house. After that we walked about another 10-15 mins to her friends house where we ate some nachos and drank some margarita type drinks which were pretty good. We stayed there for a few hours then my roommate and I head back to our place. Nothing really exciting the second night but it is nice to just get settled in.FLORENCE Day 3 February 1, 2011
So this day was dedicated to workshops and other useful stuff to get us ready for the next day, which was going to be the first day of school. So people with the last name starting with A-M met up first at 9:30 at school. It was about an hour long where we just talked about cultural differences in Florence and how we can transition ourselves into their environment and living patterns. Once that was done, a few of us had about 3 hours to waste before more workshops started. So a few of us walked over the Ponte Vecchio to this group of guys house. About 6 of them live together in this MASSIVE apartment! It is ridiculously big, they have a room just for their kitchen and a room just for the tv and sitting. So I already know where I am going to hang out most of the time. After that we decided to go on a walk/hike. I guess the main idea was go to find some gardens but somehow that didn't work out and we decided to keep walking to the Piazzale Michelangelo. But we took the major scenic route and let me tell you, it was AMAZING! we walked the Viale Galileo Galilei which goes through a high end residential area but is up in the hills so you look down and see all of Florence. We were also lucky because it was really sunny. We all decided to make that a weekly hike. We then all walked back to the historical center and got some food and met up with some more people. We then went back to school to sign up for some Cultural classes. I signed up for the day trip to Pisa, which is this saturday. I also signed up for a Cooking class, a Pizza Making class, Opera @ St. Marks and wine tasting. There were a few other things I might sign up for but I didn't have to do it right away. All together that cost about 60 Euros which isn't that bad at all and everything is subsidized so it is way cheaper through school. I also signed up for the AIFS soccer team and I guess we just play other international schools and our first game is this Monday.
And that is all I know. I am interested in seeing how that works out because the sign ups only allowed 10 people but it looks to have about 30 people signed up. Lets see how that works out. So the rest of the day we had a Italian Life and Cultures meeting and then a Travel Workshop just re-covering major points that are important. After that I brought back a few friends to my apartment to show them the amazing view then we went off and got some food and they went shopping. But once again I was pretty tired so I went back home after that and passed out around 8 at night. So so far, I haven't done too much in Florence but I am loving every minute of it.Wednesday was the first day of school but I have already written a lot so I have decided to save Weds - Saturdays information for another post. Tomorrow (Saturday) I am going to Pisa and Lucca for a day trip so I am sure I will have a lot more to post after that. Till then Ciao and hope everyone is doing well. Obviously I am doing amazing. :)
