Welcome back! After my parents left on Saturday, I had the entire apartment to myself due to my roommates still traveling. I had never slept alone in the apartment before, and it was definitely weird waking up alone without Lauren next to me on Sunday morning. I decided to make the most of my day, starting with doing all of my laundry before Mass and then walking over to Melaleuca to pick up some to-go breakfast and coffee. After I received my precious eggs and toast and vanilla latte, I walked to the park on the Arno River to enjoy my food and the sun. The weather felt like a perfect summer day, so I waited in the grass for Natalie and Maddie to arrive. I read my book, ate my breakfast (until a bug crawled into my eggs and was lost in the buttery goodness) and soaked in the sun. Nat brought me a swimsuit to change into, so once they arrived I put away my book and resorted to tanning. There were so many people all lounging in the park, listening to music and having picnics with their friends. You could tell who the American study abroad students were based on the fact that we were all tanning in the sun while the locals sat in the shade. After several hours of relaxing in the sun and an unfortunate sunburn, Nat, Maddie and I walked over to our favorite panini place to grab a sandwich and eat on the curb before parting ways. I spent the rest of the afternoon and into the evening working on homework, cooking myself dinner, and reading my book out on our balcony with a glass of rosé. Honestly, I had a lot of fun by myself but I was ready for my friends to come home :)

After my usual classes on Monday and trying All’Antico Vinaio (a viral panini place) for lunch (good but not life-changing in my opinion), I met up with Liv for some Fiorentina merch shopping! Even though it took us long enough, we were finally going to attend a soccer game. We rushed home to change into our matching shirts and get ready as Maggie and Lily came over to apartment. Fiorentina was playing Genoa, a big rival. The police officers wouldn’t even allow our Uber driver to drop us off by the Genoa section! Speaking of our Uber driver, he was from Morocco (where we had recently traveled to) and has friends that live in South Carolina. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again and again, you truly learn how small the world is the more you explore it! Anyways, once we arrived at the stadium we immediately found the hotdog stand and grabbed one along with a beer before heading into our seats. The energy in the stadium was so lively! There were huge fan sections, our team had a sea of purple cheering for it, and giant flags were waved by some very dedicated (and strong!) fans. Although I don’t know much about soccer, I loved getting to act like a super passionate fan, cheering and booing based on what the people around us were doing. I think all of the dedicated fans around us were slightly confused why 8 American girls were so invested in the game… We had so much fun and I have missed being apart of a fan base. The sun set over the field as the game continued, creating an ideal picture on the warm night. The game ended up in a tie, which I still don’t really understand about soccer, so we said goodbye to our boys in purple and sought out home. In an attempt to be money savvy, we decided to bus back into central Florence. I’m honestly not sure how it happened, but suddenly we went off course and realized we totally got on the wrong bus. Getting off on the next stop, now in an even more random spot than before, we gave in and called an Uber. We finished out our night with dinner at Dante’s a local pizza and pasta joint close to our apartment and stopping at home bar where I successfully convinced a British man that I’m from Ireland (yes my Irish accent is that good and yes I will be accepting autographs.)

Tuesday started off with class, per usual, where we visited the Academia to learn about the David statue. David is still pretty cool, but Lauren and I may have snuck out of class early to get affogato… I will say that it was worth it because I think the affogato at Vivoli Gelateria is my new favorite. Because we do sometimes have to do work around here, Lauren, Liv and I met up with our friends Nat, Maddie and Kate at Santarosa Bistrot. I was pretty behind on my blogging so I was putting in the work trying to get caught up on several weeks. Naturally, this turned into us ordering Aperol spritzes as well. Switching between homework, chatting, blogging, and reading, we spent several hours in the remaining hours of warmth before the chill in the air became too much. Liv, Lauren and I walked home and cheffed up some arugula salads and chicken for dinner before I stayed up until I finished my book. The day was pretty much just spent enjoying the city, friends, and cheesy romance novels, so I really had no complaints.

I woke up bright and early on Wednesday morning for a solo adventure to Viareggio. Due to all of my friends having classes on Wednesdays, I normally just entertain myself around the city. However, with the recent warm weather, I really wanted to enjoy a beach day. I arrived at the train station where I faced my first complication: my train being delayed for almost an hour. Although annoying, I just brushed it off. I fell asleep on the train until it was stopped in Lucca, and not stopped like letting people off, but rather stopped as in parked. The train conductor came over to me and said, “The rest of the journey is canceled. You have to go catch the bus in the front of the station.” Bus?? Front of the station?? Not only have I never been to Lucca, I had no idea what was considered the front of the station. In a desperate attempt to find it, I asked probably 5 different people, none of which spoke good enough English to understand what I was saying. I was trying to contain my panic, but I really thought I was just going to be spending the day in Lucca at that point. After waiting in a long line at the ticket office, I was told that I missed the bus that left approximately 2 minutes after I had gotten off the train. I think she felt bad for me because she allowed me to get on the next train to Viareggio, which was leaving in 3 minutes. When I tell you I SPRINTED to the platform… I was doing the most to get to the beach. When I FINALLY made it to Viareggio it was around 11:30 AM. I wasn’t really sure where to go, so I just looked up “beach” on the map and started walking there. Viareggio was a super residential town, with honestly not a lot going on besides a cute little book sale going on in the park. Unfortunately, all the books were in Italian. I grabbed a Coke at the park’s little bistro, and then followed some girls in swimsuits to the beach entrance.

The beach was sand! Yay! I had yet to experience a sand beach in Europe yet, so I set up camp and got ready to tan for the next several hours. Where I set up was fairly isolated, except for a middle aged guy that frankly was making me uncomfortable with his staring so I got up and left. That is definitely a downside about traveling alone as a female, always questioning your safety. I grabbed a panini at a random place nearby and set up a new camp at a more crowded part of the beach. The water wasn’t the bright blue that I’d seen in Croatia and Cinque Terre, even though it was the same ocean. This beach reminded me of a beach you would see in South Carolina, but cleaner. The sand was SO soft and I spent 4 hours just laying there listening to music and napping. The sun was out the majority of the day, and even though it was only 63° out, the rays kept me warm. However, there was continuous thunder? No rain, just thunder. The wind did pick up at certain points, as there were red flags waving on the beach, but I was perfectly happy getting to work on my tan. There were a bunch of surfers out on the water, as the waves were pretty big. I decided that I had to jump in the water. Bringing my bag as close to the tide as I could, I ran into the water and dove into a wave. I was pleasantly surprised with the warmth of the water! The wave did shoot an unfortunate amount of salt water up my nose, but I was able to swim just a little bit in the shallow water before my fear of getting my bag stolen propelled me out of the water. I soaked up the last hour or so in the sun before starting the walk back to the train station. Having nothing besides my towel, dying phone, airpods, and water bottle, I spent a lot of time with my thoughts and Lana Del Ray. Luckily, my train ride back to Florence was seamless and I was able to make it home without any problems except for a ripe sunburn. Once home, I had a quick turnaround and before I knew it we were on our way to dinner. Lauren, Liv, Maggie, Lily and I went to Dim Sum for some soup dumplings, fried rice, and other Chinese food. It was definitely worth the hype and worth eating something other than Italian. Wednesday night concluded with heading out to the bars, running into our friends Natalie, Maddie, Maddy, and Kate on the street. We spent the night all together, dancing and chatting before Lauren, Liv and I rode some E-bikes home.

Struggling to wake up on Thursday, we were met with what looked like would be a beautiful day. Lauren, Liv, Olivia and I set out for some breakfast and Florence sight seeing by walking over to the Bardini Gardens. Close to the Boboli Gardens, these are a smaller version of the gorgeous greenery and abundant flower bushes. In desperate need of a cappuccino, we walked right up the the top of the gardens where a small cafe sits, passing through a stunning tunnel of bloomed wisteria vines. We sat out on the terrace and enjoyed overpriced coffee and essentially fancy grilled cheeses as we chatted and enjoyed the overarching view of Florence and the gardens below. Unfortunately, that view quickly became dark as huge storm clouds began to roll in and the sky began to light up with lightning. Although our visit to the gardens was haste, we probably shouldn’t have trusted the Florence weather because we became victims of the huge storm. Without umbrellas or raincoats, there was no option other than just suffering through the walk in the downpour that eventually turned into hail? After 15 minutes, we were all completely soaked and worn out. I stopped in a favorite cafe of mine, La Cite, on the way home to enjoy a better cappuccino and get caught up on some blog posts. After I couldn’t stand sitting in my freezing and soaked jeans any longer, I walked back home to take a shower and then snuggle up with my friends. We pretty much spent the rest of the day hiding from the storm watching Gossip Girl, packing, and trying to finish some long overdue blog posts. However, once it hit 10:30 PM we grabbed our little stuffed backpacks and head out for our weekend adventure!

For our last trip outside of Italy, we bussed over to Munich, Germany. A huge group of us, including Natalie, Lauren, Liv, Maggie, Lily, Maddie, Kate, and Maddy, all wanted to experience Springfest. We booked the trip through Bus2Alps, hence the overnight bus ride. Boarding the bus at 11 PM, I was really hopeful that I would just be able to sleep the entire ride. Headphones on, The Weeknd playing, and snacks on hand just in case, I drifted in and out of an unsatisfying sleep. We stopped around 3 AM for a break, the leaders forcing everyone to get off the bus and essentially putz around a gas station for 45 minutes before boarding back on the bus to finish the trip. I would say the weirdest part was waking up early in the morning, around 5:30 AM, and just being in the middle of the mountains with heavy snow falling. I felt slightly delusional… I ate a snack and then tried to go back to bed. We finally arrived in Munich around 8:30 AM, first putting our bags in storage at the hostel (we couldn’t check in yet) before being led to a dirndl shop. Chaos truly ensued, as about 50-60 girls and a handful of guys were released upon this small shop to find the perfect outfit for Springfest. I was seriously sweating and panicked trying to find a dirndl that was both cute and in my size, as people rummaged through the racks and pushed to get in the fitting room line. I grabbed a couple that I thought would fit and waited in line until I squeezed into a tiny dressing room and then tried to squeeze into a tiny little German dress. I put on my favorite one, only for the zipper to be broken. Let me tell you, I was so distressed, having to run back into the belly of the beast and hunt for another one, luckily finding a second one in my size with a working zipper.

Once our entire group found and bought dirndls, we set out into the city for lunch. Munich was not at all what I expected, probably also because we were staying in a super cheap hostel pretty far outside the city center. The city was pretty big and not as walkable as I pictured. The old city center was super cute, though we didn’t see too much of it. Overcome with hunger and very little sleep, we stopped at Ayinger am Platzl for some authentic German food. To be completely honest, a lot of their menu did not sound super appetizing and I ended up getting some weird spleen sausage or chicken or something? I really just tried to not think about it as I was eating… If you know me you know I get icked out by food pretty easily if I think too much about it. Complete with some potato salad and a very mid pretzel, I was full but not obsessed with what I just ingested. In search of a redemption, we walked across the street to Hofbräuhaus am Platzl, a super popular beer hall. The energy in this place was so much fun, a live band was playing and there was a large mix of tourists and locals, everyone laughing, talking, and of course, drinking beer. We grabbed a table and spent the next hour eating more pretzel (again kind of mid) and trying our first German beer.

Already 3 PM, we were finally able to check into our hostel before getting ready to attend the festival. We spent the next couple hours getting ready, all looking super cute in our new dirndls. Even though the festival started at 4 PM, we didn’t think there would be that many people in line and that we would easily be able to just walk right in. See, this is where we were terribly wrong. That incorrect logic led to us not wearing our coats, despite it being 30° and drizzling. We were met with a nice long line and the drizzle picking up, leaving us all shivering, wet, crabby messes. We first tried to get into one tent by bribing the bouncer, he was astonished that we would try to pay our way in (clearly he has not bounced for a college bar…) so we walked to a different tent and decided to suck it up and wait out the line. We estimated waiting 30 minutes, concluding we were strong enough to be cold for the time being. After all, most of us are from Wisconsin! 30 minutes turned into an hour, which turned into 2.5 hours. Huddled up in our little dresses and soaking wet hair, it appeared that we were the only ones stupid enough to not bring coats nor umbrellas. Some people in line felt bad for us while others just thought we were plain stupid, which I can’t really disagree with them. One kind lady even wrapped me up in her coat with her, some generous souls let us mooch off their umbrellas.

During our period of freezing our butts off, we also endured these scary bouncers screaming at the group to back up, move over, etc. Considering they were screaming in German, we just kind of followed whatever the group was doing, resulting in being skipped by a lot of people. The line has transformed into a huge mob, which was kind of nice since that meant I could use everyone’s body heat to stay somewhat warm. We watched as so many people left the line as the night grew later; we decided to persevere. Just when Lily and I looked at each other and mouthed “I can’t do this anymore”, the bouncer grabbed us and let our group in. We all ran inside, jumping up and down, hugging each other, and yelling “we did it!”. I can proudly say that the wait was most definitely worth it. Even though it was already 8:30 PM by the time we got in, the party was in full swing. The tent was huge, filled with rows of picnic tables that hundreds of people dressed in dirndls and lederhosens stood on top of dancing and drinking beer. A live band was playing such great songs (luckily in English) by artists like Queen and ABBA. We basically just jumped on strangers’ tables and joined in on the fun. Even though all of our hair and dirndls were wet, we slowly warmed up and had such a great time. The beers were HUGE and way heavier than we expected. It would literally take me 45 minutes to finish one stein, the equivalent of 3-4 beers. I think we had too much fun clanging the steins together in enthusiastic “cheers” moments… Around 11 PM our fun was cut off when the festival closed. After we were home and safe in our hostel, Maggie and Lily ordered McDonald’s to be delivered but unfortunately I fell asleep before it arrived.

Saturday morning started bright and early around 7 AM to the sad realization that I had slept through being able to eat my McNuggets and fries. Maggie also woke up with leftover nuggets in her bed? Essentially, we were all in rough shape. Pulling it together, we slowly dragged the dirnls back on, and I attempted to salvage my rain-destroyed hair. After a quick breakfast in the hostel, the whole group set off to the festival for day 2. We thought we were going to relive our nightmare and be forced to wait in a long line again, so we wore our coats. As fate would have it, there was no line and we were able to walk right in and grab a table right when we got there. As the tent slowly filled up, we ordered beers and pretzels right away. Even though it was literally 9 AM, the party started off strong. The next 8 hours were spent at our table playing games, talking, meeting new people, seeing old friends that also happened to be there, standing in the freezing bathroom line outside, and overall just having fun. We especially loved the game “Cheers to the Governor” and played that game for hours on end. Liv and I split our first authentic German apple strudel and I grabbed bites off of Maddy’s plate of sauerkraut. At one point I had to rescue Maddie from outside because the guards decided that nobody else could enter the tent and wouldn’t let those going to the bathroom back in. I was honestly astonished to see how many people were trying to shove into the doors. Luckily we were able to squeeze Maddie back in…

At 4 PM we dreadfully realized that we had chosen one of the tables that was previously reserved and were kicked off our table. The only way you can make a reservation at these tables is if you speak German, so we were out of luck. I thought we could just wander around and hop on a random table, but the German security guards were physically pushing people out of the way and towards the door so after 20 minutes of sneaking around the tent, we gave up and left. Of course it was extremely cold outside, and we were all ready for some food, so we made our way back to Hofbräuhaus am Platzl. The tables were first come first serve, so our group spread out around the huge hall until I finally snatched a table as a group was leaving and we could finally eat. Liv and I split some sausages and cheesy pasta (the pasta was not very good) and we all enjoyed one last stein. The sausages were pretty good, plus I had more sauerkraut, and it was a fun way to close out our trip. I think we were all just so drained and cold that going out after dinner wasn’t really a question. We changed into comfy clothes back at the hostel and tried to keep the night going by heading into the hostel bar to hangout, but we were encountered with some creepy guys so I escaped as quick as I could (picture a guy in a Monster hat staring into your soul and talking about how hard it is to be a man…)

We checked out of our hostel on Sunday morning and pretty much just grabbed a bite to eat (some burgers) and then boarded the bus to head back home. My hand was literally sore from holding those steins all day on Saturday… Nothing much to say about the bus ride other than some gorgeous mountain views and a lot of Gossip Girl to get me through. Munich overall was so much fun but unfortunately the weather really did get the best of us. I wish I would’ve seen the city a little bit more, but between the festival and staying on the outskirts of the city, it wasn’t in the cards this time around. I guess I’ll just have to go back one day! ;)

See you next week!

Week 13: Friends and Relaxing

Madeline Cesarz

Week 13: Friends and Relaxing

Week 14: Italian Spring

Week 12: Parents Week!

Madeline Cesarz