the amount of bad luck, bad luck that only happened to me, that i had on the trip is kind of hysterical. now that its over and done with.

we had to take a bus friday morning to get to the airport...so we stood in the rain umbrell-ella-ella- a-a-less... and all our luggage got soaked.
then an hour bus ride to the airport
we got there 3 hours early for our flight...
only to find out..our plane to dublin was delayed 7 hours...yay.
so we arrive in dublin at 3am...get to our hostel around..430am... take a nap until 730
we stayed there for two nights...the place was a shithole
upon leaving.. i realized i had bed bugs...i mean really... they only bit my ankles.. but still..so itchyour plane to germany was fine..berlin was great!!!!
however on the train back to the airport i left my bag on the train... i only realized this after we walked to mile from the train to the airport... with a loud scream.... i sprinted a mile.. like no one has ever sprinted before... thank god the train didnt leave...so i ran up the platform weezing like a smoker and my purse wasnt in hte train.. so i ran out of the car and threw my hands up in the air.. only to see a group of friendly germans holding up my bag and pointing to me...i ran over hugged them... then wlaked back to hte port...then i lost my vioce... because it was just too much excersize.

and then in barcelona,
i bought a metro card... and i swiped it.. and i man ran infront of me and stole my ride....then the last night...it has been a running joke that everytime we go out.. i drag us through a shady part of the city before we get to out destination (everyone knows the best places to go out are in shady parts of town).. blame it on my nyc-bred fearlessness.. or my own insatiable need for adventure...
but we had finished dinner at a really great resurant... and we had to walk one street over to get back to the main street of barcelona...so 5 of us split from the original group of ten. so we walk back across the street we came from.. and i joke about how ofcourse there is a shady street we need to cross before we get to the main road... we laugh..and i begin to say... its one street its not that shady, and nothing dangerous actually happ........::::::insert mugger pulling my bag of my body by breaking the strap, me thinking my friend is being an asshole and my friends screaming bloody murder, the fucking bastard runs away before i realize it wasnt a friend....::::::: so we stand there in shock..then run out of the street. my friends are all freaking out, i tell htem to calm down... ask if they still want to go out...then lead them back to our hostel. its 2am. I have 5 Euro to my name.. in coins

so besides all those very exciting obstacles,
i had probably the best week of my life.

so..fun things I did/saw
in dublin, i met up with my great friend rachel which was very nice and she took us out to some great local pubs... i drank so much guiness...so much yeast.., we saw the book of kells (i did a research paper on it last summer) trinity college, dublin castle, went on a ghost tour..(bc it was 2 euro), went on a tour of the guniness factory, saw a viking ship museum, met up with our friends nick and mark and ate fish and chips and lamb stew with more guniness at the oldest pub in dublin...it was perfect.
dublin however, was an overly priced shit hole. no offense.
and i didnt see your parents

Berlin,
was amazing! it was very interesting to be in such a new city, and i city where everything about it is goingthrough some kind of change.
we went to a bunch of galleries and contemporary art museums it was art overload.
then we got lost downtown, saw some fantastic construstion,
and found a warhouse/ art cafe bar, and had a delicious long afterneoon meal... i had gulash and a fruitty variety of heifferwiesn. then the next day, i met a man on a train who told me of some fun places to go out. whgile trying to find a place for dinner... we found this huge building that was supposed to be a bar... we walked around it.. and the backyard was just full of old car seats and metal scaprs...so i find a door... we go in and start to climb this huge staircase.. the entire building is covered with grafitti inside. fantastic fantastic grafiti, when we get to the top floors artists are having exhibitions, they both live in the house/ work in it and sell their art. it was amazing
one was a bar, theat from german translated to ..come alone leave together.. and was infact a 60's themed swingers bar... but completely awesome, and hte other place , he only gave me directions to.. these were hte directions :... ok walk halfway down this street..pauenstrasse.. halfway down you will see an orange glow coming from the second floor.. underneath the building you will see a garage door.. go through it, on your left htere will be a staircase... go up the staircase and open hte door on your right.... and there will be a discreet bar.... so we did just that and went to a really awesome bar with an incredible dj./
then the next day, we went site seeing. saw the brandenburg gate, riechstag, berlin wall, and a concentrationcamp outside the city sachsenhausen? it was overcast and misting thewhole time.. very fucking erie.

barcelona.
what a gorgeous city.
went to a contemporary art museum there. and realized agian how much i absolutely love contemporary art. went down to the coast and walked along the beach in wonderful 75 degree weather. there i ate a huge frutte di mare paella. delicious. delclious. then the first night, my friends band was playing at a place called razzmatazz... after making friends with the friendly/attractive bar staff of our hostel, around 1am we went on hte metro, along with everyone under 25 who lives in barcelona. we get to the club and there is a huge line, in spanish i say "donde esta el guest list" and htey take me inside, i give htem my name and we all get in ahead of a huge line, drink tickets and then what is probabaly the bigest/best party i have ever ever been to. when we get in there is a sea of about 4000 people dancing! there was vj's and dj's and my friends bad, and about 10 different lvels/rooms.. hte place was a fogmachine inspired maze, and everyone was dressed up. it was halloween night and after two drinks i was comepltely useless. and danced up a storm. until the wee hours of hte monring. got home around 530, woke up at 8... and was incredibly hungover. and happy.
then we went site seeing in hte city, saw all hte gaudi architechture, sagrada famiglia, andla perulra, and hten scaled a mountain to see the park guell, which was amazing. that night we had an amazing dinner of fajitas..mmm and mojitos...
then on hte walke home i was mugged..

and now I am back in florence. it's weird to not go home after a vacation.. but to go back to another vacation...

i would have pictures.. but my camera was stolen

The American HIgh Five

This weekend i took a causual journey to London. why? because i found a ridicuously cheap round trip flight. and i have to say it was one of the best weekends i have ever had.
Thursday night, i didnt sleep and all (after having woken up at 6am) and we took a red eye flight and arrived in london at 8am. and from 9am to 12am we exploreed the entire city.
refreshed by western culture and the convenience of starbucks (5x a day) we made it through an impossibly long list of touristy site visits.

changing of hte guard at buckingham palace,
beefeaters at the tower of london
the london eye
double decker bus tour
tate modern gallery
national gallery
borough market
camden town
notting hill
portabello market
trafalgur square
london bridge
tower bridge
the globe theatre
westminster abbey
parliment
big ben
thames walk
dali museum!

and more! it was amazing and too rushed because we had to fit it into 48 hours.
my favorite spots were notting hill and camden town. they reminded me of new york city, specifically st. marks and bedford ave in BK. maybe next time i get home sick ill pop over to london. being back in a big city made me realize how different florence it. and how laid back it is. i miss the hustle and bustle of cites.
i was surprisingly good at figuring out public transportation which was nice
the only down point
pubs and bars close at 12am.
then the clubs that stay open cost like 13 pounds to get in. no thanks
the second night we founda great spot in notting hill called The Champoin and sat around talking about politics. just because. then we met some english buggers in a band called ivory circus... and found out that english man are obsessed with the concept of the american high five. so when i high fived my firend courtney a hand slapping brawl broke out and the 8 of us started high fiving. it was one of those moments that when you step back from a situation you realize how ridiculous thisngs look to other people. it was quite funny.

we had a final meal of starbucks in the airport at Stansted, and they reluctently made out way home back to florence.
london might be my city

and though the us dollar is worth less than half a pound.
sucks.

I cant belive that I am going to have been here for a month. I am not sure if time is moving fast or slow..? I have to say, this is the first time in my life that i am not holding a job, an internship and a full school load. it feels strange to have free time. Ive been trying to use it to the best of my ability, buti have yet to visit most of florences museums.
however, this weekend I traveled to sienna and Ravenna to see some amazing mosaics and churches... and also the shrunken head of catherine of siena. which was a let down. I loved the architechture in Siena, and the large round piazza in the center of town.
Ravenna was beautiful but alot more commerical and high end. with delicious sandwiches.
i love sandwiches. speaking of Im starving. last night i had some mexican food, but being kind of tight on money i ate chips and salsa for dinner. Tonight i am feeling Chinese. I am dealing with my slight feelings of home sickness with american chain resurant food cravings.

This morning I got up at 8am argh... to go to a contemporary art festivale in an old fort in the center of the city. It was a new area to explore so that was nice, and hte art as reqlly wonderfull. I spent three hours there this morning. Waking up at6am every morning this weekend kind of put a damper on going out late this weekend and i am still ridiculously tired.

on the other hand i have finally figured out the bus system. which means alot more exploring!
i have some fabulous pictures from this weekend.

and next weekend is London!!! in which i plan to do every touristly thing possible
love, katie

i cant believe i went swiming

9/20/07
So yesterday i went for a ridiculously long walk. and I found a bunch of wonderfully tacky (tho over priced) thrift stores. i am seeing a black and gold lame prom dress in my future (this will have to be stolen by my exceptional FBI spy abilities because i am broke)

and!

I found a wonderful vynl store, and about a bajillion outdoor markets. Kind of like the giant meat market/ resurtant on aurthur ave in the bronx

i found a riding stable online, that offers lessons. either in packages in ten or 20, sooo hopefully i can whip myself back into my former horse self. (riding may be the only thing in life where i am graceful).
hopefully i will find some more treasures on the way. as i have been told by my host family, now that i can use decent broken italian.. or more so spalatalian, that there is a GIOMORPHOGARGANTUENORMOUPHOSPHORESCENTLY HUGE outdoor market there.

i went into a shitty bar last night, and as soon as i walked in the door a group of frat kids started kareoking to sweet home alabama. i immedietly left.

this was followed by an equally classy

hip hop club

i have to admitt i had a blast.

being the sober sally i was, i danced up quite a storm.

my friend courntey however, was really drunk, and happens to be a hysterical but good dancer. there were these three scantly clad italian women dancing pretty fiercely (when i say the word fierce its like gay man vioce times a thousand) so she promptly had a dance off with them, as i egged her on. and she danced them off the floor. i was a proud mother.

so i was going to go to Sienna today. buti think ill wait until next weekend. and tomorrow i may go hiking on the coast. iam going to say that with the utmost nonchalance to make you more jealous.

tonghit im headed to a night spot that kind of reminds me of Lit. theres some band playing. then tomorrow night.... biannual rave in a bombed out train station!!!!!!

my life is disgusting.

9/ 22/ 07

My weekend began with raw eggs

Momma lucia made dinner, and normally she will make some kind of tomato omelete.
not tonight.
its was stewed tomatos.... that had raw eggs slimeing across the plate.

and

i ate it.
somehow.
:::::shudder::::

i mean, I love eggs, but i only like my eggs very scrambled .They were so raw. raw raw.
but thats enough of that anecdote..
so none of my plans were actualized this weekend. no rave unfortunetly.
but friday i explored a couple new markets. and bought two coats. because i forgot to bring one. ones a vintage green plaid, and one is a vintage red plaid with a fur stol around the collar.
i think they look pretty sassy.
i then bought the movie in and out (making it the first movie ive seen since iver been here.) to show my friends hat my town looks like bc it was filmed in northport.

i also bought Woody Allen's "everything you wanted to know about sex but were afriad to ask" because its a classic
and a giant fuschia sweater.

saturday morning, woke up at 530am, and took a 3 hour train ride to Cinque-terra. the approprietly named carribean of the mediterraineannnm

and it was amazing

its a set of five (cinque) lands (terra) connectes by 2 mile mountain hikes
on these huge cliffs that just straight into the clearest water i have ever seen..
so we scaled a cliff and found a secluded beach. we then jumped off a 20 foot rock and swam in unexplainably clear water.
the water was about 60 feet deep (which was terrifying as we had been told to look out for white sharks) but you could see the bottom. it might have been the best day of my life.
we watched the sun set over the water from a rope bridge with a bottle of vino rosso, salty and exhausted. ( i have a picture that does not do it justice at all.) we got home late, had delicious pizzza. and i went to bed.
i am so serious. i do something amazing every weekend.
next weekend sienna and ravenna
the weekend after, London.
the weekend after sicily
the weekend after venice.
the weekend after dublin, berlin, barcelona.

big travels

I just booked my fall break vacation

because my program doesnt give us housing between october 26th to november 3rd

soooo

i decided on

october 26th- 29th = Dublin/ edinborogh?

october 29th - 31st= Berlin

october 31st- November 3rd = Barcelona

maybe this means i will have a halloween after all!!!!

i am soo excited! #@$Q#$%@$%6

and unfortunetly poor

pisa!

So, as i changed the welcome message on my phone to "stop being lazy", i havev decided to give it my all to stop being lazy. unfortunetly this means wake up at 630 every morning of the weekend. But so far I have managed to visit Assisi, Pisa, Lucca, and tomorrow Populonia. and while i have noticed that highways in italy are reminscent of North Jersey, every 30 miles or so there is a wonderfully preserved quaint town from the 1400s. after spendinf probabaly a total of 8 hours ina bus over the past couple of days, i haven gone to church for the first time in 8 years. well gone into a church too i suppose. the first place we went, Assisi, named for the st. francis, had the church of San Francisco. a modestly decorated exterior with an itialian gothic interior. as soon as we walked into the church a childrens chior began to sing an opening hymn of a real mass. the dimly lit interior sparkled with candleight which caseed the gold guilding to reflect of the wonderful Giotto blue ceiling. the entire surface of hte inside was painted with orientalized details, and the roof of the church was actually painted to look like the sky. Frescos blow me away, because i cant paint that fast, and i have no idea how they were created so seamlessly. the enture church was gorgeous and full of wonderfull relics. The most poerful being the actual crypt of st francis. Im not sure if his body actualy resides there but there is quite an elaborate tomb. the crypt was three levels below the main church, and had pictures of loved ones slid in between wrought iron bars. I kind of wanted to leave something of mine there, but i didnt have anything on me at the time. but im pretty sure once a day some one cleans up the photos and throws them out, which would completely destroy the romantic aspect of the ceremony. being a non religious person. i had to admitt that there as a certian omnipotence that surrounded the who;le ordeal. I guess, for me, st francis has alwasy been interesting, his whole stigmata business. which i am half conviced is foul play on the part of religious fanatics, and half convinced that gabriel byrne actually rescued patrica arquette from the wounds of christ. church miracles and mystisim have always interested me. it was cool to acutally be there.

Last night i discovered how to steasl wifi from the school at night

then at 630 this morning I arose to go to Pisa and lucca. the pisa cathedral complex was amazing. inside of the church of the complex was a wonderfully preseved romanesque palace! complete with a tacky byzantine-like jesus mosaic in the apse (i used to know more about it but i forgot. Since the entire place is made of while marble, it was almost impossible to see with out sunglasses, and light/ heat was reflected everywhere making it one of hte hottest experiences. The cemetery outside the city aslls as also amazing. with a huge aray of roman sarcouphogai.. and an amazing fresco circa black death. The fresco showed the fight for souls between good andevil with flying devils and angels. unfortuently it had been mostly destroyed by world war two, it was still amazing. The leaning tower of pisa was also wonderful. its funny i never thought i would be there. so i decided to celebrate by taking the customary "holding up the tower" pictures and i am so glad i did. beause i know i will look back nad laugh at that. we then went to lucca, had a wonderful lunch at an outdoor cafe and ate the best mixed nut peanut brittle ever! lucca was a tony city that is supposed ly one of hte richest in italy. it was even cuter than florence becxause it didnt have any shady slum sections. I would like to go there around chirsmas, because they have all of these metal sculptures with candle holders on them all ofer hte sides of buildings. i am sure its glorious.

My winter break is from october 25th to November 4th. I am not sure what i am doing. I think we may try to spend halloween in Barcelona, then go to amsterdam. The first weekend i would like to go to berlin and munich. I really want to go to germany, but i cant convince people of its funality. so i may go alone, or with a friend from home... maybe
and then meet up with everyone else.

i think i want to go to germany for my dad. and see some battle fields or something. i htink i would like that, and he would enjoy the pictures.
i am a nerd

i dont think I am going to do anything too crazy tonight.
Poplonia Tomorrow for an etruscan archeological dig.
and i have so much HW

Arriverderchi

stigmata

So today i went to the church where St. Francis was buried. He is one of my favorite saints because supposedly recieved the Stigmata. i dont really buy it, but he could talk to animals. \

i snuck a picture of the interior