Giorno del Tacchino (Thanksgiving... or Turkey Day)

Jordan, Me, Sam & Luisa

Jordan did an amazing job of setting the table for us!

Thanks to Mom for sending tons of food, a table cloth, plates and napkins with Jenny!

Demonstration that was going on that morning

Sam and I made the Pumpkin Pie from scratch the night before!

Happy Thanksgiving! This was the first year I have spent Thanksgiving away from my Family, I thought it would be a lot sadder but having Jenny visit and, my roommates and I celebrating together really made the day!

 

I had class the morning of (which was a first for sure). There was a demonstration going on for Coldiretti, 50,000 Farmers and 1,000 tractors, 100 cows & horses came and protested! We went and photographed it for my Photography class.

After class Jordan and I went on a little shopping trip and, then once everyone was done with class we met up at the apartment and began to cook. We had made the pumpkin pie the night before so we made green bean casserole, baked spinach and cheese, mashed potatoes, bread and butter, cranberries, pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, and Luisa surprised Sam with a small roasted chicken! (Jordan is a also a vegetarian). Then before we ate we all went around and said what we were thankful for. Tears were shed by all :) We were all very thankful to our families of course because without them we would not be here having this great experience. We were also thankful for each other too because without each other we would not be having as much fun as we are (MC17 Family!).

In addition to all this I am also thankful for.....

• Not having to work on Black Friday!!!
• YouTube so we can look up Music Videos from the 90's
• Anthony for sending his iPod with Jenny since mine broke while being here.
• My mom for putting together a ton of great food from home that we all missed.
• Jenny for carrying it all in her suitcase and taking home a ton of things for me.
• Kitsch & Pop Cafe
• GROM Gelato
• Mercato Centrale - the best fruit and veggie market is across the Piazza from me and I will miss it so much

San Gimignano

Here's a few pictures from a day trip I went on to the town of San Gimignano. It's about an hour and a half outside of Florence and, is a really pretty scenic Tuscan town. It's known for the really tall towers (you can see a few of them in the pictures ) that the medieval families built. Not much really goes on there, especially now that it's the winter season, but it was nice to get away from the city for the day. All of the leaves are finally changing colors here too and its getting colder.Also, Christmas decorations are starting to go up in store windows!

Roma!

San Peter's Square

Guards

Inside St. Peter's Basilica

the Pieta

St. Peter's Basilica

Ruins

Trying to be "Creative" with our picture taking

Roommates!

Me on the Spanish Steps

Pantheon

Trevi Fountain 

This weekend I went to Rome with 2 of my roommates and one of their sisters who was in town. Jordan and I left early Friday morning and went to the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps and then Via del Corso for some shopping! 

Liz and her sister Lauren met us that night and we had a tasty dinner (Zucchini Rav's .. yum!)and then walked back around the city for a while. With the exception of the Trevi Fountain, Rome's sites are not very well lit at night. The next day we woke up so early and went to the Colosseum, Pantheon and Vatican City. Highlights were the Sistine Chapel, the Pieta and the ruins that are around the Colosseum.

Venice

San Marco's Basilica

Island of Burano

Island of Murano, where they make the glass!

ovens used to heat up the glass

a Glass Master at work

This weekend I went to Venice! I have to admit I felt like it was kind of a big tourist trap but there was good shopping so I was able to pick up a few gifts! I went to the island of Murano to see the glass factories. You get to watch them for a while which is amazing and then you have a looong walk through the gallery where they try to sell you things. My favorite part of the whole trip was the Peggy Guggenhiem Collection. Since her death her palazzo here in Venice has become a contemporary art museum. She was friends with a ton of artists you may have heard of like Picasso, Pollack, Calder, Miro, Modrian, Dali ect. It was AMAZING! We also went on a night time Gondola ride that was beautiful, unfortunately I forgot my camera for it.

Sweden!

I loved loved loved Sweden! Minus the freezing weather! Samantha and I spent a really great week there going to museums, eating, and mostly shopping. Italy is known for their clothing designers and Sweden is know for it's Interior Design. Every place we went into was either very cozy and comfy design or very modern and chic. Even some attempt was made to decorate the "dining" area of our hostel as pictured below.

The city of Stockholm is spread over about 14 different islands and it's so beautiful. The trees were changing color so we got a little taste of the fall that we have been missing. Two of my favorite museums that we visited are the National Museum and the Vasamuseet. The National Museum was part art galleries with Rembrandts, Carl Larsson and Toulouse-Lautrec and the other half has furniture and other objects from the 1500's up until today, most of which we designed by Swedes or were really important pieces. I was a little too excited over all the different chairs that they had. (My freshmen year I was in a History of Furnishings and Architecture class so I had to learn the names and history of about 50 different chairs). The Vasamuseet housed the giant Vasa Viking ship that sank off the coast of Sweden in the 1600's. They have since restored it and it's really really cool.

The shopping in Stockholm put Florence to shame. They have everything! My favorite was TopShop which is really only found in London but they recently opened a store in New York as well. I picked up a few cute tops and a new hair color! I am now a blonde! I figured having my hair dyed blonde there was a safe bet, who knows blonde better than the Swedes?

Below are some pictures from my trip! Enjoy!

In the Christmas Store

Our dinner that we made at the hostel one night

We found Cambell's Soup! So we made a classic meal of it with grilled cheese sandwiches! Yum!

Inside Muren, our favorite little restaurant, it was very cozy!

Outside of Muren

Kungliga Slottet (The Kings Palace)

Nordiska Museet

The Vasa Viking Ship!

Jakobs Kyrka

Changing of the guard

Sam and I

Nobel Museet

Our first picture in Sweden!