::Planes, Trains, and Italy- Spring Break 2011:: Day 2-10

Initially I had planned on posting daily blogs (or at least every two days) while in Italy for spring break. By day 2 I had realized how ambitious this goal was. First, free wifi is hard to come by in Italy. Second, when there is so much to see in Italy, it is hard to make yourself sit down and write. So with no further explanation here is the recap of my trip to Italy.

::Day 2:: Travel

Tren Italia.

::Day 3-5:: Cinque Terre

Welcome to Cinque Terre, Italy.

Cinque Terre is a group of five cities along the coast of Italy. There are hiking trails that connect all of the little towns, along with great restaurants, and breathtaking views. The town above is called Manarola. If you ever go to Italy, you MUST go to Cinque Terre.

This is where the train drops you off at. Not too bad of a first impression.

Riomaggiore

Pesto that I had for three different meals.... I may or may not of liked it.

Manarola at night.

Hostel Cinque Terre. Such a cool place. With great views (see below)

Local carnival in Manarola.

Probably one of the coolest things about the Cinque Terre area is all the hikes you can do. We were only able to do a couple of them, but they were unbelievable. Seriously.

Vineyards galore.

A great view to end a four hour hike.

An old church we found just outside of Manarola.

::Day 5-8:: Firenze (Florence)

Ponte Vecchio and the Arno river.

Most of our time was spent in Florence. Since Julianna has been living there for about two months, she knew all the local spots. I felt like I wasn't one of those "american tourists"..... even though every Italian that saw us knew we were Americans. dang.

Street market.

The Duomo

(candid expression)

Florence from above.

Amazing pizza. Spicy salami= bliss.

Apparently Hipster coffee shops aren't unique to the United States.

Picnic in the Boboli Gardens.

All the cool Italians ride a vespa.

The outside of Boboli Gardens.

The David. (The fake one, but still)

There is no shame in eating McDonalds while in Firenze.

Firenze at sunset.

:: Day 9:: Assisi, Italy

During my last full day in Italy we took a day trip to Assisi to see the Basilica of St. Francis.

::Day 10:: Travel home

After nine jam-packed days, it came time for me to go back to the Airport. Italy was unbelievable, and because of this trip I am now an advocate of traveling as much as possible. Even if it is only for a week. The flights home were super long, but oh so worth the jet lag considering how awesome it was to see Julianna and to see such a beautiful place like Italy.

Also here are couple reasons why I liked flying with Air France:

-Free french baguettes

-Free Haagen-Dazs ice cream

-Flying over Iceland while I was listening to Sigur-Ros.

Until next time.

::Planes, Trains, and Italy- Spring Break 2011:: Day 1

I'm writing this while sitting at San Diego International Airport. I'm going to Italy!

My travel itinerary to Florence is:
-San Diego to LA
-LA to Paris (Freaking long flight)
-Paris to Pisa
-Pisa to Florence (train)

My girlfriend Julianna is currently studying abroad in Florence, so I am going to visit and see what its like to be a international students (at least a week of it). She has been blogging for the Point Loma Study Abroad office.... check her blog out here:

http://mansionofbeautifulthoughts.blogspot.com/

Here is to 18 hours of travel!

Cheers,

Chris

A new year.

So I have been miserably failing at keeping this blog up to date, and for that I am sorry. I have officially started what may be my toughest semester at Point Loma, and honestly I am unsure of how it will go.

My classes for the semester are as follows:
-Immunology
-Advanced Inorganic Chemistry (The title alone sounds interesting)
-Continental Authors
-World Civilizations II
-Art

But more importantly than the classes, I will be taking my MCAT exam in about two months. The MCAT is a medical school entrance exam that essentially dictates (or at least has a huge influence) if and where you get accepted to medical school. I have been studying for it for the past two months (this is where I shamelessly provide an excuse for being behind on blogging), but I still have a ways to go before my actual test. So this semester academically (At least the first half) should be interesting as I balance classes and test prep.

So now that I have gotten the boring stuff out of the way, this is some stuff I have been doing since my last post:

-Went hiking on the Sonoma coast.

-Visited a sweet cave in Southern Arizona called Kartchner caverns.

-At at the best restaurant in Phoenix. Oregano's Pizza Bistro.

-Beat my older brother in Xbox 360 NCAA football. (If you knew my older brother, you would realize why this is so noteworthy.)

-Made a lot of stovetop popcorn. Once I switched from microwave to stovetop, I never turned back.

-Played Xbox Kinect at Dr. Choung's house for a chem club party.

-And last but not least, I got to see a replica renaissance castle winery in Napa Valley, California.