In travel on
December 2, 2017

lights of florence

If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you’ll probably remember a post I did about the Christmas lights around Nice, France when I lived there five years ago (I can’t believe its been FIVE YEARS!). One of the things that made me the most excited about studying in Florence was being here around Christmas time. This past week, lights started slowly going up around the city. Then suddenly, on Black Friday, all the lights went on! I find it entertaining that Europe seems to be on the same “day after thanksgiving” Christmas schedule as the States. The lights in Florence seem much less flashy and colorful than in Nice. They are understated and classy but oh so beautiful. My favorite is a little side street that has arches of lights stretching as far at the eye can see. If you ever get the chance to visit Florence at Christmas, I would highly recommend it for the magical lights alone!








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In music on
December 1, 2017

christmas playlist 2017

Hello everyone! I’ve been really wanting to get into blogging again so I decided this month I’m going to do a ‘blogmas’ where I blog every day of December! And what better way to kick off the month of December than with a Christmas playlist? This playlist is a mix of songs that have been on my Christmas playlists for years, like River by Joni Mitchell and some I’ve found this year. You can listen to the songs on YouTube by clicking on the song name or in the Spotify playlist link below! Enjoy and stay tuned for more posts and Christmas goodness!

link to Spotify playlist here

1. The Holly and The Ivy by Annie Lennox
2. Little Saint Nick by The Beach Boys
3. Carol of the Bells by Celtic Women
4. Joy To The World by Citizens & Saints
5. O Come, O Come Emmanuel by The Civil Wars
6. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing by Hillsong
7. Gloria (Angel We Have Heard On High) by Hillsong
8. Happy Xmas (War is Over) by John Lennon
9. River by Joni Mitchell
10. Come Thou Long Expected Jesus by Kings Kaleidoscope
11. O Come All Ye Faithful by Kings Kaleidoscope
12. Mvmt IV, Every Bell on Earth Will Ring by The Oh Hellos
13. Sleigh Ride by She & Him
14. Christmas Is All Around by Sleeping at Last
15. The First Noel by Sleeping at Last
16. Lo! How A Rose E’er Blooming by Sufjan Stevens
17. I Saw Three Ships by Sufjan Stevens

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In travel on
November 5, 2017

budapest the beautiful

Budapest is a beautiful city that I am so happy to have had the chance to explore during my time in Europe. It has such a different feel than every other city I have visited that can only be described as a fusion of east and west. Budapest feels very young and modern so it’s hard to believe that as of 1988, Hungary was still communist. One of my favorite things about Budapest was how cheap everything was. They use the Hungarian forint, which is about 250 forint to 1 dollar. Our hostel ended up being around $10 a night per person, which is a steal compared to the rest of Europe! Below I’ve highlighted some of my favorite experiences I had while I was in Budapest.







Every meal I had while in Budapest was delicious, with the highlight being a lunch we had at Halaszbastya, which is inside the famous Fisherman’s Bastion (above), which is a magical looking fortress on a hill that looks like it’s out of a fairytale. Our meal was equally magical, with a dinning room that looked like it belonged in Beauty and the Beast and wonderful dishes like lamb goulash and steak with beet risotto.

We visited the Budapest Central Market, which is a massive indoor space with a farmers market type set up on the first floor and food stalls and souvenir shops above. I bought some unique and very cheap souvenirs so for that alone, it was worth going.



Finally, no trip to Budapest is complete without a trip to the baths. There are many different baths to choose from in Budapest (124 to be exact!) but we wanted to check out the iconic Szechenyi Baths, with it’s beautiful yellow buildings and huge pools. It was such a treat and we had a great time running from pool to pool to stay warm and trying out the different kinds of baths. But if you are going to visit, make sure to bring flip flops! They’re $10 if you buy them there which is quite expensive in an otherwise very cost effective city. But Szechenyi Baths were probably the best part of my trip and an experience I will always remember.

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In travel on
October 31, 2017

pisa

every few weeks, my school plans a trip for us study abroad students to visit some of the cities surrounding Florence. this past weekend, we got a chance to visit Pisa and Lucca. I’ve never had much of an interest in going to Pisa before because it seemed so touristy but I was pleasantly surprised. the church and baptistry were beautiful and the tower was actually quite interesting and impressive. I learned that the tower wasn’t poorly designed but rather the ground beneath it was marshy clay so it was unstable from the start. about 10 years ago, it was leaning so bad that scientists came in and pumped out the water under the tower which reduced some of the lean and made it stable enough for tourists to go in today. I wanted to go to the top but it cost 18€ so I opted to look on from afar instead.




besides the interesting tidbits about the tower, it was entertaining to watch people take the typical leaning tower pictures. we had a blast taking our pictures and found the best way was to balance on the concrete posts to get a better angle, which led to a lot of fun balancing poses, as seen below. the city was quite small and typical of small Italian towns but we had some yummy pizza and a Pisa specialty called cecina, which was exactly like same as socca, a dish I loved while living in Nice, France. here are a few photos I took during my time in Pisa.



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In travel on
October 28, 2017

zürich


After a day of driving all around the Swiss countryside, Brendan and I spontaneously decided to spend the day in Zürich. when we arrived, I couldn’t believe how pretty it was! it was so clean and pristine and almost looked like it was out of a fairytale! we were starving so I used Yelp to find a place to get food and found Sprüngli. it is a beautiful Swiss bakery and cafe that is known for their amazing pasteries. they allowed dogs so we sat down and started looking at the menu and we were shocked! a normal coffee was like $10! and a hamburger was $30! we just ended up just getting coffees and a pastry but as you can see below, the presentation was amazing! and it tasted even better than it looked!

after our restaurant experience, we walked around the city and waterfront area, which is what Zürich is known for. it was so beautiful and charming and everything I was hoping for and more! Zürich was such a lovely experience and I would love to visit again and spend even more time.

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In travel on
October 18, 2017

swiss road trip


Last week, Brendan came to visit me in Florence. As soon as he arrived, he and I, along with my dog Colette, embarked on a whirlwind trip around Switzerland and Italy and had the best time. First, we rented a car in Milan and made our way to Switzerland. We planned on driving six of the Swiss passes but we only ended up making it to three of them because of unexpected road closures. We did get to drive Furka, which was the pass I was most excited about. James Bond drives the Furka pass during a car chase in Goldfinger and since seeing that movie, I’ve dreamed about driving thru Switzerland. What surprised me the most was how many different terrains there were! We saw snow and sun and rain all within an hour!



{the crazy furka pass roads!}







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