Slowly but surely, I'm becoming American once more

I have a small confession to make...

I've been back in the US for over 2 weeks. I came back as planned on May 10, thankfully dodging any interference from the volcanic ash that I was so worried about.

No longer can I use the lack of internet as an excuse to not update my blog. I am constantly connected to the internet - even more so than before due to my new Blackberry.

So my updates will become more regular and I will bring this blog up to date on all my traveling that transpired over the last 6 months or so.

Until then, I'm planning on making a half-hearted effort to find a summer job and readjusting to life in my native country.

I've already been made painfully aware of the fact that I am no longer in Italy by many different events. I miss the blunt approach the Italians have to life - when I spoke to my friends here, they initially found me to be brutally honest. Needless to say both parties had some adjusting to do.
I can't look at the "Italian food" served in the US, let alone eat it. No pizza for the next few months until I can forget what authentic pizza tastes like. And don't get me started on how dismayed I am that I can't buy alcohol for myself yet. How am I supposed to get my wine?!

But for all the cultural differences, I love my home country. And I can't complain that I no longer have to worry about communication errors when going to the doctors or ordering at restaurants. Plus, seeing my friends and family again continues to be a treat each day.

Now that I'm back I can clearly see huge changes in who I am and what I want out of life - all for the better, I think. But more on that later. And more pictures and stories of my travels.

I'm back on blogger but who knows when I'll be back in the US...

It has been 4 months since I've posted - I must apologize profusely for my absence from the web...

To bring you all up to speed with my life in Europe, here is a quick summary of where I am now:

I am still studying in Siena, Italy (Tuscany). The differences between this semester and last are staggering - I am no longer living in an apartment with American room mates, but in a homestay with an Italian family (and none of them speak a word of English). Unfortunately this means I have no internet access at home, thus making it a real challenge to post here. Other than that, it is warm outside (FINALLY!) which means I no longer have to wear 3 layers when I leave the house!

I've been on the move a lot, traveling across the country. In the near future I intend to post pictures and stories about all the places I've been (including places like Prague, Vienna, Northern Italy, etc.).

But sadly I will be leaving in 3 weeks to return to the US. Or at least, that's when my flight is scheduled - my flight that will be going through London's Heathrow airport. If you've been following the global news, you may have noticed a little hitch in European travel as of late...

For those of you who haven't heard, a volcano erupted last week in southern Iceland. The ash from this has been causing flight delays for almost a week now - especially in London - with no definite end in sight. The volcano is still spewing ash and scientists fear another eruption down the road (in a few weeks or a few months, no one really knows).

Some airports reopened (at least some of their flights) today, but a new ash cloud that is moving in could set all progress back to square one again. This may mean that I could end up stuck in Rome if my flight is canceled.

I know, poor Taylor, stranded in one of the most amazing cities on Earth...
I have to admit, I'll use any excuse I can to spend more time in Italy - but unfortunately doing so wouldn't bode well for my dwindling bank account.

But for now, there's nothing I can do except stay optimistic and enjoy my last few weeks in beautiful (and mostly sunny) Siena.

20th birthday in Paris!!!

I recently celebrated my 20th birthday (about a week ago) in Paris, France! I have to say that this was absolutely the best birthday I’ve ever had and a fantastic way to say goodbye to my teenage years.
About 20 of my friends from my study abroad program accompanied me and my friend Sabrina (who was turning 21 the day before my birthday) to a 4 star hotel in the business district of Paris. The whole weekend was magnificent – I ate nutella crepes nonstop, drank French wine and champagne, and saw all my favorite places in France!

I started my birthday off by going to Notre Dame, one of my favorite places in the world. The architecture conveys so much passion and devotion that must have gone into constructing this church. Standing there, looking at the breathtaking stained glass gives me a sense of tranquility and clarity. If I lived in Paris, I would be in Notre Dame every day just drinking in the beauty.




I also went to the Champs Elysees where there is a Christmas market and the Arc de Triumph where the Christmas spirit is nearly palpable.



I went to Montmartre – one of my favorite areas of Paris – and sat inside the Sacre-Coeur for a while.



On the way back to dinner, we encountered a band playing in a metro station. There was a huge crowd and a ton of strangers started dancing together. It was so much fun and there was so much positive energy. I felt as though it was my own personal dance party in the metro. I couldn’t stop smiling. :)



The best part of my birthday though was the evening. On 9:20 all my friends and I jumped on the metro and got to the Eiffel tower just at 9:54pm (the time I was born). I stood under the Eiffel tower and turned 20 there. I popped a bottle of champagne under the tower as a fantastic light show began and music played. My friends and I all watched the light show with awe – it was fantastic. We danced under the tower until we got too cold to stay any longer and went off in search of some other place to dance.

Upon returning to Italy, I had so many birthday wishes from my friends and family back in the US. My brother even wrote a special blog for my birthday :) check it out here:

The whole experience was so memorable – I feel so lucky to have celebrated my 20th birthday in the city of lights and have received so much love from the people in my life. Thank you to everyone for making it so special.

The Immaculate Conception in Spain

Living in Italy has many perks, one of which is the holidays I receive due to the Catholic dominance in this country. I myself and not Catholic, but if the Italians want to give me a five day weekend to travel in order to celebrate the Immaculate Conception, then I'm a happy camper.

So a few weeks ago I went to Spain with some close friends. The plan was to spend a few days in Valencia and a day or two in Madrid, but honestly, I could have stayed a few months (or more) in Valencia.
Valencia is Spain's third largest city (after Madrid and Barcelona) but in my opinion is the best. Now, I haven't been to Barcelona and I understand it's quite interesting, but Valencia is located on the South Eastern coast of Spain. This means that in the dead of winter the temperature hovers around 65 degrees Fahrenheit. So much warmer than the 30 degree weather I'm currently having in Siena...

Valencia is also incredibly beautiful. The historical center is similar to Siena due to its winding cobblestone streets, preserved buildings, and busy plazas. The inner city is beautiful with churches and fortresses. But there is also a fantastic amount of night life there with tons of bars and dance clubs. Valencia is also incredibly clean and safe. I stayed in a hostel near one of the main plazas (Plaza de la virgen). Here are some pictures of the city center.







Here you can see that Valencia really outdoes itself when decorating for Christmas. Look how beautiful!







There is also a park that used to be a river (which flooded out) that runs through Valencia. There are skate parks, mini golf courses, a park shaped like Jesus, lots of grass and fountains there as well.





If you walk a bit out of the city center, there are sky scrapers and modern office buildings. Keep walking down the river/park Turia from the city center and you'll find the City of Arts and Sciences (designed by Santiago Calatrava and Félix Candela). This is a cluster of incredibly futuristic looking buildings that house museums and laboratories and aquariums.








Past the City of Arts and Sciences is the beach with lovely long stretches of soft, white sand.






While out at night, I drank only Aigua de Valencia - a specialty alcoholic drink of Valencia containing Oranges and a ridiculous amount of different hard alcohols. Delicious, but deadly.



Upon arriving in Madrid after being in the paradise of Valencia, I couldn't enjoy myself with all the throngs of tourists and pickpockets. Something about Valencia enchanted me. I am now seriously considering studying for a year during graduate school in Valencia if possible. Valencia was quite possibly my favorite city in Europe that I've visited so far.

Thanksgiving in Paris

Ok, so I know I'm almost a month late on the update, but I finally have a few hours to catch up on all I've been up to these past few weeks!

This is the first holiday season that I have not spent with my family (being in Europe, its a bit difficult to celebrate with everyone in America). This last Thanksgiving, I went with a few friends to Paris for a long weekend. While I didn't have any turkey in honor of the holiday, I did eat some pretty delicious foods: crepes, duck, rabbit, and French wine were just some of the delicious French dishes I enjoyed.

Here's a picture of my Thanksgiving dinner: Duck and potatoes - so delicious!



The Thanksgiving trip to Paris was my second time in the city (the first being over three years ago). I hit up all the normal touristy areas and re-visited some of my favorite places in Paris such as the Louvre, L'arc de triumphe, Les Champs Elysees, and of course the Eiffel Tower. While walking down the Chaps Elysees one evening (which is beautiful - all lit up for Christmas), my friends and I stumbled upon a special event with a famous French singer who I had never heard about before named Sliimy. We got to hear him sing a bit and snapped a few photos.








Here is my favorite sculpture at the Louvre: Psyche and Cupid. I just think the lines are so beautiful and there's a feeling of pure and innocent love to it.



I also visited the Musee d'Orsay for the first time and spent a few hours admiring all the Van Gogh paintings and Rodin sculptures.






I stayed in the Quatier Latin (Latin Quarter) near St. Michel. The Latin Quarter is crammed with fantastic crepe and gyros/kebab stands as well as a fun variety of bars and little dance clubs.

Now, with any big city, there are bound to be con-artists and Paris does not disappoint. There are gypsy women who have English speakers read letters that tell these women's supposed sob stories and then beg you for money. There are men who offer to spin you a bracelet from thread, but even when you refuse, they offer to show you and begin weaving thread around your wrist. When they've finished they hold on to your wrist by the bracelet and refuse to let go until you've paid them five euro. The scam that I personally encountered was one where a man bends down to the ground and appears to pick up a ring (typically a gold band) and then asks if its yours. When you say no, they say (in French or broken English) "Oh, have it, it's a gift from the angels...but I haven't eaten in days. Please give me some money for this ring". They refuse to leave you alone until you give them money or their friend has picked your pocket. I, however, having no patience for these things, eventually threw the ring on the ground at the mans feet before anything could be taken from me.

Apart from the frustrating scams, I felt so at home in Paris -I felt so at home in Paris. My French is still leaps and bounds ahead of my Italian and I loved being in a country where I can effectively communicate with the locals.

I'm aware this entry is a short one, but I will be following this post with another one about my 20th birthday in Paris!

Ciao Bella!

So I arrived in Siena a little under a week ago and have been far too busy to get around to posting! I apologize for the putting this off since I know a lot of you have been curious as to how my new life in Italy is going! Here is the explanation of how I got to Siena. Soon I'll post more about eating and living in Italy! :)

So to start off, I have to tell you about my journey from San Diego to Siena.
Last Sunday, my family drove me to LAX. I got through security and found my gate without a problem. At the gate I met with 8 other students who were all traveling to Siena to study in the same program as myself. We all boarded the plane right on time. Almost 11 hours later we touched down in Zurich where we all easily found our way to the next gate for our flight to Florence. Everything was going unbelievably well until we got the the baggage claim at Florence. Everyone got all their bags except for one girl who was missing one of her bags. We waited for 30 minutes for the lost and found department to give her the appropriate paperwork.

This delay caused us to miss the 8:00pm shuttle bus from the Florence airport to the bus station. So we took the 8:30 shuttle, which put us at the bus station at 9:00pm. At this point, 3 of girls we were traveling with left us and went to their hostel they had reserved for that evening in Florence. The remaining 6 of us frantically tried to find the bus stop (which is adjacent to the huge train station we had been dropped off at) in order to catch the last bus to Siena at 9:15pm. Unfortunately we missed the bus due to the fact that we couldn't find anyone to give us clear instructions (in English) to the bus station.

At this point we decided to buy an open train ticket to go to Siena. A train was departing from platform 2 in 15 minutes. We hurry over to platform 2 but there is no on on the train. We then hear an announcement informing us that the train on platform 2 is a non-passenger train. At this point we believe we have no way to get to Siena and make our hostel reservation for the evening. But we soon find out that a train is leaving for Empoli (where we can get a connection to Siena) in 3 minutes from the opposite end of the train staion. We sprint for the train and barely haul all our luggage onto the train before it takes off.

At this point, a nice Italian man named Luchio (please excuse any incorrect Italian spelling) helps us put all our luggage overhead and explains to us (in very good English) that some trains and workers are on strike so some trains are unavailable even though you can buy tickets for them. This explains why we couldn't take the train from platform 2. As the train sped along, I realized that we had not validated (stamped) our ticket before jumping on the train - this can result in a heavy fine in Italy. So two girls go to get our ticket validated by a train staff member who tells them to get off the train at Empoli and get a bus there that will take us to Siena.

We start to realize that there are no signs or announcements informing passengers where to get off. I find a man who speaks only French and ask him where the stop for Empoli is. He informs me that we are about to arrive in Empoli in 2 minutes. There is a frantic rush as the 6 of us students all heave our bags to the doors and jump off the train. We are left alone at Empoli at 10:50 in the evening.

Empoli is a very sketchy place to be in the evening time. We pull our bags up and down stairs until we make our way out of the train station and onto the street. We can't find the bus stop so we ask some people at a cafe across the street. They point us to the bus stop but explain that the bus won't be there for an hour.

For some reason, Empoli is full of creepy old men who just stared at us as we waited nervously for the bus. At this point we had been traveling for somewhere around 20 hours. The bus to Siena arrives at 11:55pm. We board it and sigh with relief. We arrive at the train station in Siena at 1:30am. But we are not anywhere near the city center (inside the protective walls of Siena on the hill). So we all wait for a taxi. The only taxis running at this hour are tiny little cars that only have room for 2 people plus their luggage. So we split into pairs and arrive at the Pizza Gramsci.

We try to find a hotel (since we've missed our check in time for the hostel) but all are too expensive and we can't navigate the twisting cobblestone streets with our luggage. We find our way to the Piazza del Campo (Pictures at end of this post) at 2am, which is the heart of Siena's social scene. Unfortunately all the bars and cafes were closing. We all put our luggage down and decided to give it up and spend the night there.

In the Piazza del Campo we meet some interesting (and drunk) locals who offer us their apartments for the evening - but we, being paranoid and sleep deprived, decline.

We spent the evening talking there - no sleep. And when the sun finally rises, we go to check in with our program and undergo hours of waiting through orientation and paper work. Finally we are shown to our apartments and dorms at which point I shower and then reluctantly climb into bed (after discovering I was running a fever and was dizzy from the exhaustion) and then fall asleep for 8 hours.

When I woke up, I looked out my bedroom window and and could see a busy piazza full of people speaking Italian and riding vespas. "I'm in Italy," I thought, smiling. "Finally."

The frantic packing is well underway

I leave for Italy tomorrow. I can't seem to wrap my mind around that. In a few days I will be moved into my place and starting my adventure in Siena.

This is mind-boggling!

I don't have much time for a post here because my packing has now become frantic as I rip my room apart in search of various items that seem to have eluded me whilst packing earlier.

I have yet to learn much Italian and I find it to be a bit late in the game to try to learn much more...I suppose my lack of Italian fluency will allow for a more interesting adventure en route to Siena.

I'll be flying into Florence (with a layover in Zurich beforehand) and from there I will be haphazardly attempting to make it from the airport to the bus station in order to make the last bus to Siena for the evening. I have little faith that I'll make it to Siena (where I have a hostel room booked) the same night that I arrive in Florence, but luckily I'm traveling with a few other people from the UC schools who are in my program so I won't be alone in a country where I don't speak the language.

I must return to my packing now! My next blog post will be from Italy!

Ciao!

Yosemite!

I've been back in San Diego since Sunday and it's so nice to be back in lovely 80 degree weather. :)

I've been enjoying myself and have committed myself to waking up every morning before 10 and then going out for a run along the bluffs along the beach here. It's great to get all those endorphins going and talk to interesting people on the beach when I go down there to run along the water. I'm feeling good about myself, physically and mentally - I've resolved to try to either run or do yoga every day until I leave for Siena, which is just over a month from now.


Before I left northern California, we took a trip to Yosemite - I had never been before and had a photo-taking frenzy... there were just too many beautiful things to photograph there!





The first photo is a photo of Bridalveil Falls where you can see a beautiful rainbow.
This was the last place we stopped in Yosemite and it is undoubtedbly my favorite place I saw there. I was in awe as I watched the water slowly fall down the rocks. Beautiful.

Stuck in the middle with you...

I'm very, very excited because tomorrow I'm flying to Northern California to visit someone very special! I will be there for about 10 days and can't wait!

So today has been a pretty laid back day, just packing and lounging around the pool.

I did go to the store today to pick up a few items... on my way back home, as I was about to pull into my driveway, The song "Stuck In The Middle With You" came on the radio. I really had no other choice than to pass my house and take an extra lap around the block with the volume turned all the way up so that I could enjoy the song. It put me in such a good mood. And now I'm on a Beatles kick and have been listening to their music all afternoon.

Ah, dinner time! Au revoir! I'll blog from Nor Cal soon!

C'est la vie

Today some family friends from France came to our house for dinner and catch up. We had some amazing discussions about Europe. I am now itching to get to Italy. They were describing all the amazing things to do and see throughout Italy and Europe.

Aside from seeing all the beauty that Europe has to offer, I am so excited to meet the people there. All the people I have met and spoken to from Europe are just so cultured and aware of the world around them. I cannot wait to be absorbed into that lifestyle!

More specifically, I adore some of the French mentality about life. Today, we were discussing how good things can come from bad, and our French guest made a comment along the lines "ah yes, well you know...sometimes thats just life." Now put a lackadaisical French accent on that and you have the key to my esoteric heart. It's true, everything can really be that simple - when something bad happens, thats just life. And when something great happens, well thats just life too. I love the complexity one can derive and apply from that simple statement.

I also got to exercise my French. I am glad that after 5 or so months without French practice, I'm still able to hold my own with a native French speaker.

Oh! An important note - my laptop is broken. Well, the wireless internet refuses to work (I'm using my family's computer). So tomorrow I plan to spend a good hour or two on the phone with tech support. Oh and my cell phone never wants to send or receive picture messages. On top of that, I must spend a few hours sorting out all my papers I need for my visa appointment with the Italian consulate - this includes spending a while on hold with my school's financial aid office as they attempt to sort out what money they will decide to give me for the school year.

I will also be planning a trip or two up to northern California to visit a special someone. :)
So that requires some travel arrangements.

So much to do! And all I want to do is laze around on the beach...c'est la vie, non?

I have an aversion to being productive during the summer...

I have been far too lazy over the past few days - laying around the house while the 20 or so boxes and suitcases I have from moving back to San Diego for the summer sit, unpacked, in my room.

But instead of achieving productivity through unpacking, I have decided to focus on my upcoming trip to Italy. Which brings me to the main point of this post:I need to start learning some Italian.

You know, just a few key words to get me around the airport and the bus station before I get to Tuscany in a few months. While the whole point of my studying abroad is to learn the language, I am still a bit apprehensive about dropping myself in the middle of a foreign country without knowing how to say anything aside from "Ciao!".

I have an interactive Italian language CD/DVD (something similar to Rosetta Stone) that has been sitting on my desk since Christmas time. Every time I look at it, the linguist in me wakes up and I get a rush of excitement at the thought of learning Italian, but then comes this feeling of extreme guilt because in all honesty I know I probably won't ever break from my lazy summer routine to use the CD...

Oh well, even if I don't start learning the language now, I'll just have to use the country of Italy as my classroom - which is really one of the best ways to learn a language.

Alright, the sun is shining outside and I best go enjoy it.

Ciao!

Travel Tip: Cheap Flights

So as of late, I've been doing a lot of searching for cheap flights to various places: Italy, Sacramento, San Francisco, Tahoe, etc. Now, after spending much time trying to find good deals on flights, I've found a few (logical but sometimes overlooked) tips that I'd like to share here to help you out.

1. USE MULTIPLE TRAVEL SITES

Now if there's one thing I've learned about finding the cheapest flights on the web, its this: search the same trip through as many different flight search engines you can find. Not all the prices are the same on each website - certain websites list more flights and airlines than others, thus offering you a bigger price range.

2. TRAVEL DURING THE WEEK

You can save a good chunk of money if you can manage to travel during the middle of the week, rather than the weekend when a considerably larger amount of people are traveling so prices for flights are higher.


3. DON'T BE PICKY

If you're on a budget, you can't afford to be picky and write off extremely cheap flights. So what if the airplane is uncomfortable and the service is mediocre? If it's cheap and gets you safely from Point A to Point B, suck it up and save some money.

Going to Italy!

I finally bought my plane ticket to go to Italy the other day!

I am so incredibly excited to study there for the entirety of next year. I will be flying into Florence and then taking a bus to Siena (about a 30 minute ride).

Now I speak absolutely no Italian - that is the whole point of me going there: to learn the language. All my classes there will be Italian language and culture classes. While this doesn't fulfill anything for my GE's or degree requirements, I am far enough ahead in my studies that I can afford to essentially take a year off my real studies and still graduate on time.

I am, however, a little apprehensive about flying into a country where I don't know the language and then finding my way to Siena. But I have been in contact with other people from my program and we will meet up in Florence after my flight and then combat the language barrier together.

Now starts all the list making.

I love love love to make lists. So here is a quick list of all the lists I am going to need to make before I go:

1. What clothes to bring
2. What cosmetics to bring
3. What toiletries to bring
4. Stuff I need to buy once I'm there
5. Important papers/documents to bring
6. Which shoes to bring
7. All the places in Europe I want to travel to
8. What electronics to bring
9. Contact info for emergency situations
10. Useful Italian phrases
11. Miscellaneous items to bring

So much to do, so little time.

Don't question my drinking habits (or lack thereof...)

I haven't posted a new blog in a while, and I have a very good reason: school and study abroad forms are slowly sucking my soul right out of me.

Aside from running around trying to get all my school work done, I've been frantically trying to turn in all necessary paper work to my Education Abroad Program (EAP) office. I will be studying abroad in Siena (Tuscany) in Italy for the entire next school year. As excited as I am to go, I am not excited by the crazy amounts of paper work I have to do.

Today I had to go into the doctor's office on campus to get my health clearance. Basically I just had to fill out a health questionnaire and have them take my vital signs so they can make sure I'm healthy enough to travel.

I didn't think this would be a problem at all, but upon filling out the questionnaire, I came across the question "How many alcoholic beverages do you consume on average per week?" I answered zero.

Now this is a completely honest answer. I may go to the biggest party school in southern California, but I do not drink. There are multiple reasons as to why I don't, but the main reason is that I suspect I have an allergy to alcohol. I get sick almost every time I try to drink any sort of alcoholic beverage. So i tend to avoid the stuff.

But, this being Santa Barbara, the nurse takes one look at my questionnaire and says to me "and you're sure you filled out everything truthfully?" ...like its not obvious what she's hinting at.

"Yes, I'm sure," I say. Do they want me to say I drink copious amounts of alcohol? I would imagine that would create more problems for them.

She looks at my paper again and says "so, you haven't suffered any severe illnesses in the past year?"
"No."
"And you drink...how many drinks per week?"
"None."
"...Alright. Lets go take your vitals then."

I know this isn't a huge problem, but its just so disheartening that due to my surroundings, people don't believe me when I say I don't drink.

Anyways, my new camera finally got to see some daylight today! I'll post some pictures soon! :)