Siena, San Gimignano, e the Duomo....

So this past weekend was a little relaxing one. Didn't do too much, except go to Siena and San Gimignano. They were beautiful. Not exactly what I expeceted but it is always fun to explore other areas of Italy and Tuscany.

In Siena we were able to venture to the Piazza del Campo which is a large plazza that there town hall is located. In July and August they have a huge horse race there which is extremely famous. I would love to go to that one day. After that we went to Siena's Duomo and climbed to the top and got too over look the whole town. It was breathtaking.

In San Gimignano we all were so tired because we did a lot of walking in Siena. So we went close and went to the central piazza and was able to have, yes, WORLD CHAMPION GELATO. It was delicious. I have never had gelato like it since I have been here. I wish I could go back and get some more. The town itself was really cool. It was very small and totally felt like you were in the middle ages. There were towers everywhere and the buildings were beautiful.

On Saturday I took an adventure with one of my roommates to Ikea. So interesting to see one in Italy, but none the less still amazing and I got a few things to liven up my apartment.

Today after all of my classes I got a chance to climb the Duomo in Florence. 463 steps later and I almost died. I think I have something wrong with my breathing because I was definitely weezing once I got up there. It was actually cold out today so I had a jacket on and it was extremely windy on top of the Duomo. It reminded me of the Empire State Building....with a better view (no offense New Yorkers).

As of now I am planning some more day trips and weekend trips with my roommates so look forward to some very exciting upcoming events....Oh you know like Milan this weekend for fashion week!

World Famous Gelato. I wasn't lying.

Me on top of the Duomo, such a happy camper after that hike.

Piazza del Campo in Siena.

Ciao!

Chelsea Lynn

Trip to the market...

As I said before I am taking a History and Culture of Food class. Yesterday we took a little field trip to the central market in Florence. This market has absolutely everything you could possibly need for your cooking pleasures. Spices, meats, various cheeses, freshly made pasta and plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables. People reading from home (Florida) it was like a Red Barn flea market but all with food. I will definitely be making a trip back to do some shopping so I can cook with some fresh foods.

I have been doing quite a bit of cooking since eating out every night is not really ideal. A couple of nights ago I experimented with some chicken, zucchini and a tomato basil sauce. I salt and peppered the chicken then sauteed it in some butter to have a grilled chicken breast. Then I sauteed the zucchini and then added the tomato sauce with it to simmer it a little longer. The sauce was then put over a penne pasta. Along with that I cut some Italian bread and it was delicious. A big thing here to do with bread is to dip it in olive oil and red vinegar. Bellissimo.

A lot of you may know that I really enjoy cooking and I love trying to make new things and learning how to make new things.

A few of my goals while I am here:

-Learn to make fresh pasta

-Be able to make my own fresh sauces for pasta

-Learn how to make a pizza

-try something different every time I go out to eat

-Learn to make a delicious Italian dessert

Below are some pictures from the central market......Enjoy

Freshly made pasta
Fresh vegetables
Fresh breads

and yes, they sell this so you can cook it and eat it!

Ciao!

Chelsea Lynn

The adventures keep on coming....

Finishing up the weekend with a trip to the beach was great success. On Saturday my friends and I went to Cinque Terre which in translation means Five Lands. It was beautiful. Totally reminded me of the European beaches you see in the movies. I can finally say that I have swam in the Mediterranean. Kind of amazing to say that. We had an amazing trip with bus rides and trains galore, great weather, crystal clear water, and fantastic food. I wish I could go back.

The five different towns that are in Cinque Terre are called

- Riomaggiore

-Manarola

-Corniglia

-Vernazza

-Monterosso al Mare

We mainly stayed in Riomaggiore and Monterosso al Mare. I like Monterosso because that is where the beach and the cocktails were located ;].

There is a hike you can do through the whole town. We only did the most infamous part of it which is called Via dell'Amore, which means the Road of Love. Along the way you see a bunch of locks attached to wire that is hanging from the cliffs and tunnels of the path. These locks represent the bonds of peoples love. In one of the tunnels there were writings all over the wall of people who had put who they love and who they want to be with forever. I honestly wish I had a permanent marker so I could make my mark.

After that we took a train to the very last town to enjoy a relaxing day on the beach. Needless to say the water was amazing and I got a little pink from the day.

The Kissing Statue along the Via dell'Amore

View from the trail
Plenty of boats all over the coast of Cinque Terre


Back to class on Monday. Kind of excited, headed to the food market for class!

Ciao,

Chelsea Lynn

Long over due.....

So sorry for not posting for the past five days. It was a bit rocky this week and now I am finally back on my feet and really enjoying myself.

One thing I would like everyone to know is that I FOUND MY BAG! Yes, it is still in the United States. Cool US Airways, that is not where it needs to be :]. None the less, my stuff is safe and will be too me soon.

On the other hand I started classes last Monday. They are very interesting. My schedule for the week is

M/W: Cross-Cultural Psychology
The History of Food and Culture
Identity in Culture (My favorite)

T/TH: Photography: Portfolio of Florence

M-TH: The Florence Experience IV (which is the highest level language course, scary.)

I am really enjoying them. This coming Monday for my food class we are going to one of the local food markets to do a walking tour of all the various foods sold in Florence. Kind of excited about that. My Identity and culture class is really awesome. I love my professor because he is really into learning about us as people and not as students. His class I think got me back on track because he made me realize why I am here in the first place, and that is to experience a different life style that I would not get back in the states. I am really going to like my photography class. We go shooting on Tuesdays and then photo shop lab on Thursdays (thank you Patty for elements, but apparently it won't work for this class) and thank god she is giving us the program so I don't have to pay hundreds of dollars on it. Italian class is very interesting. I am doing okay with speaking Italian, a lot better than I thought though.

As much I hate to admit this, I have now officially been to three places that the Jersey Shore went to while they were here. Two different clubs and then a Mexican restaurant. Yes, you read that correctly....MEXICAN. My roommates and I were craving something different from all the pasta and pizza and wanted something from our homeland (Arizona) and we found this place called Tijuana, which we found because of the Jersey Shore. It was amazing. I thought Mexican food was good back home, but this was just to die for. It just tasted so much healthier. I feel that way about all the food I eat here.

Last but not least.....

My trip to Chianti with my school. It was beautiful. It did not seem real to me. Other students and myself could only say one thing about the scenery. "This isn't real, it looks like a back drop." It literally did. I was so taken back at how breathtaking it was.

A little info about Chianti:
-It is known for the production of red wine
-Is in the outskirts of Tuscany, countryside
-It is about a 30 minute bus ride outside of Florence

I had a wonderful time and had fun taking many pictures of the scenery, wine barrels, and the food. We had a delicious lunch with a little wine tasting to go with it (wasn't a big fan, because I don't like red wine). The spread included, two types of cold cuts, a thick white cheese, grilled bread with olive oil, two servings of Italian bread, and a plate of the most delicious lasagna you could ever taste.

One of the staff members from school let us break the rules a little bit and we were able to go into the vines ourselves and eat the grapes. On the way down there were some green grapes which were divine and then the red grapes were absolutely delicious and didn't even look edible because they were so beautiful.

Below are some pictures of our beautiful adventure....

Red grapes from the vines

Delicious Lunch

French barrels of wine

Stefanie, Alexa and I in front of the view from the vineyard

Moving on, look forward to a post soon about my trip to Cinque Terre!


Ciao!

Chelsea Lynn

Del tempo libro....

Translation: Some free time...

Which probably isn't the best thing right now, but I'm pushing through it.

Still no word on the bag :/


Today I did get to see the statue of David. It was amazing. I never realized how big it would be. It stands at 14 feet and with the pedestal it is 17 feet. The original statue is located in the Galleria dell'Accademia. The museum is only a block away from my apartment which is neat. With my school I get a museum card for 25 euro and we can get into over 15 museums without waiting.



Other than that my roommate and I are about to rearrange our room so that we have more space it is, it is fairly small. I also bought a booklet of post cards so I will be writing some out today and sending them sometime this week, you might be lucky :]

If anyone needs to mail me anything here is my address.....

Chelsea Bolyard
Palazzo Rucellai
Via Vigna Nuova 18
Firenze, Italy 50123


Ciao!

Chelsea Lynn

Sono arrivato!

The door of my apartment

Sorry it has taken me a couple days to post anything but it has been a hectic couple of days.....


First i never want to fly by myself again out of the country. That was the worst experience of my life.

Second one of my bags is still on it's way to Florence somewhere. This bag is the bag I purposely packed so that if I lost the other one it would be okay. My flight that was going to Madrid I ran late on because my flight to Charlotte, NC was delayed. So there was no more overhead space on the flight to Madrid and I had to check it. Of course that bag still hasn't made it.

Third, I never thought I would miss home so much. This is a huge adjustment that I should be used to but it is a lot different than I thought.

Last but not least, I have been having a wonderful time. It is absolutely beautiful here and I am kind of getting the hang of where everything is. Well only a few things. I never realized how much money you need to have over here, it is outrageous. The rate is ridiculous because as we all know our dollar is worth nothing.

The scenery is just like I expected. The cafe's, bar's, shopping, everything. It is all gorgeous and so ancient looking that it is breathtaking. The Duomo is a couple blocks from my apartment.

Here are a couple of pictures from my window of the plane....



More to come!

Ciao,

Chelsea Lynn

Bon Voyage

So tomorrow is the day.

Three planes

Three destinations

Two days

then Italy....


Packing definitely was an adventure......














Finally, after about an hour of packing it all in, everything is organized (until just now....those jackets you see hanging up, yeah totally forgot to pack them in. But that is okay because I have room :])

I am actually very surprised with myself. I did a lot better then a lot of you probably know. One checked bag, one carry on, and my backpack. Damn that's impressive ;]

It was extremely hard considering that I will be going and the seasons will be changing quickly and intensely. I checked the weather and it is supposed to be beautiful when I get there but it is supposed to get rainy in October and then really cold starting in November (my birthday yay!)
Don't worry I brought an extra duffel bag, because I will be shopping....mark my words.



I guess I will consider this the good-bye post. So I would like to be able to thank everyone that has helped me to get to this point in my life....

First my parents, I would not be where I am without you. My mother has raised me to be a goal driven person and to go out and get what I want and I thank her for that. My dad has always taught me to be who I want to be and never back down from what I want.

My siblings, you guys are crazy but I love you and I don't think I would be the crazy, outgoing and (learn how to put up a fight) without you guys. To my sister good luck with your first semester and have fun. Brother, I know you will do great in middle school and have a blast with football :]

The rest of my family I am so glad to have all of your support and to have you all in my life.

My friends, for every friend I have had that has stuck by my side for every decision I made I thank you for believing in me.

Last but not least the most recent addition to my life is my amazing boyfriend. I have never had someone support me as much as he does. Even though we have only been together for a short period of time, I have never been so sure about something in my entire life. It feels so great to have a man to back me up on my decisions and to be there waiting for me when I come back from this adventure of a life time. I love you babe.

Now just to wipe back my tears, gear up and get ready to enjoy this once in a life time experience.


Ciao!

Chelsea Lynn