A Much Needed Update!

It has been MUCH too long since I've last posted, but busy days, weekends, and midterms week kept me from my weekly posts.
Midterms went well! I'm happy it's over. School is such a distraction from all my fun experiences here :P
After a week of midterms which included: art history, health psychology, and evil philosophers (no photo midterm, and macroeconomics is next week, eek) Catherine and I took a JCU planned day trip to the Thermal Baths also known as Terme di Papi. The thermal bath was a large swimming pool (not exactly what i was expecting!) that had spouts on the left end that released extremelyyy hot sulfur water, probably 120 degrees. Of course Catherine, Maria, and I took advantage of the warm water, and hung out as closely to those spouts as our bodies would let us. Here in Rome, the showers and watering system is less than reliable, and you are always going to get either a too hot or too cold shower lol. Then, Catherine and I went and got mud facials! I had never gotten a facial before, so I felt a little silly for spoiling myself. I always pictured a facial to be more for an older woman that has done her deeds to deserve such pampering, perhaps like a mother? hmm momma, want a facial? hehe. But we figured, why not? We are in Italy, and they are all into the "natural" stuff, so we might as well try it. Mmmmm, well...I certaintly enjoyed my facial :] Who could complain about getting their face massaged? It was lovely.
Saturday, Catherine and I went to the CHOCOLATE FESTIVAL! in Perugia :] Mmm, I had been looking forward to the chocolate festival alll semester. I knew I had to go, and experience it and splurge some cash on chocolate. We left around 6:30 AM, rode the metro, and then got to the Termini (train station) in time to make our 7:45 AM train out to Perugia.
Now, we took a regional train, which is a BIG difference from the trains I've been accustomed to. You don't have a reserved seat, but it is usually a 15 dollar ticket. So I'm not complaining. BUT, these regional trains are a mad house to get through. You are pushing and shoving and you can hardly breathe because people are wanting one of the few seats left. So for three and a half hours Catherine and I sat/stood in the same corridor as the bathroom. I'd never been on such a packed train! People were standing like sardines in the aisles for almost four straight hours! It was awful. But we made it! Getting to the city center of perugia was odd, you had to take a bunch of "city escalators" which basically took you to the top of a hill, and then there we were :] Chocolate was everyywhere. I won't get into detail but they had EVERYTHING. Chocolate bars, hot chocolate, truffles, chocolate kebabs, chocolate crepes, Nutella everywhere, Chocolate covered fruits, chocolate shaped like various animals, chocolate ravioli, and just...I could go on. It was wonderful. They had major brands like Nestle (european Nestle though), Milka, Lindt, Toberlone, and just so much yummy goodness! I got chocolate pasta, and then a different chocolate bar (I tried a variety, such as milk chocolate with dried strawberries, and white chocolate with cinnamon) from various stands that looked appealing to me :] I came home a happy camper!
The train on the way home was the same way, except this time I was prepared. I had my adrenaline pumping, and when that train stopped for us to get on it I pushed and shoved my way through and ran like a mad woman (while listening to some Lil Wayne ahhh hahahah. i'm so funny) to grab two seats. Catherine and I split up (it was a divide and conquer kind of idea, so whoever got two seats first would call the other and then we'd find them :]) Catherine luckily saw me in my course of action, and quickly followed. It was magical to have seats on a train for three and a half hours...definitely worth running and looking silly like every body else in the crowd.
On Sunday, Catherine and I then went to the mall :] ... which was about an hour and a half commute hahaha. You take the metro to Termini, then get on the number 38 bus, ride it from the first stop to the last, and then boom you are at the mall. It was a relaxing day, and successful one, and of course the bus ride home was about the same experience as trying to get a seat on the train. I somehow managed to push and shove (I'm learning the way of the Italians here...mind you), and I found a seat on the bus....the bus was packed...people sitting on each other, and random strangers body parts smushed up against you... it's lovely.
All, in all. It was wonderful :]


Oh! I never spoke about Florence (which was the weekend before this past one)
We left for Florence Friday morning, and as soon as we get there we had about a two hour tour of the heart of Florence. Which of course included the outside of the Duomo, Piazza della Repubblica, Piazza della signoria, Palazzo Vecchio, Galleria degli Uffizi, and Ponte Vecchio.
All the girls were of course ready to conquer the leather markets, which is what we spent the majority of our Friday afternoon doing. I found myself a pair of leather gloves to go with my purple jacket :], and two hats (very old fashioned, cute wool hats!). I also had a waffle with gelato on it at some point during the day, which was wonderful :] I need to remember to do that on my waffles at home...with ice cream i guess. hmm.
We spent friday night out at a wonderful little restaurant recommended by API, and then we went out just for drinks at a pub of some kind. It was a nice relaxing night.
Saturday morning, a group of us went to climb up the Duomo to see the city view, which of course was magical like every other one I've seen haha. But the climb up was nauseating! It was a small little corridor of winding stairs. I felt very uneasy and claustrophobic of course.
Afterwards, we went to the Galleria dell'Academia, which is where the statue of David by Michelangelo currently is! We had a free pass there, so we pretty much went to the see the statue, roamed around a little bit and then we were all ready to go back out into Florence. The statue itself was breathtaking! The proportions are very interesting to me, because the hands and feet are so big compared to the rest of the body, but they create these statues with the intentions of people looking up at them, which makes sense.
Then we wandered the city, where I found myself a pair of beautiful leather boots! (gotta get ready for winter!) And we were off back to Rome.

Ciao,
Kate