First care package!

Today I got my very first care package, from my Mom! I was SO excited when I found the slip that gave directions on how to get to the package store. It was about a 15 minute walk from my school and I had no idea that this part of the city even existed! I got to the store and the man brought my package out and asked to see my ID (which I did not have). I think he saw the tears welling up in my eyes and said I could take it if I signed and didn't tell anyone. Oh man, I love Italy! She sent all the essentials, like Peanut Butter (yay!), extra bath towels and my favorite lotion. She even sent a box of Bisquick! WHAT?! I am so excited to make some waffles with peanut butter! :)

Love, Dana

Germany Day 3

Sunday, September 26th 

*This may get a little confusing, but because I have been traveling since Thursday night I was just now able to post my weekend. The most recent post (today) is first so you actually have to scroll down to see Friday and Saturday. I'm sure you already knew this, but I know it would have confused me! :) Enjoy!

This morning we woke up, got ready for the day, took the linens off our beds at the hostel (seems so strange!) and hopped on the bus to head into Munich. I was sad to leave Ausburg after such a great day yesterday, but was very excited for what was in store for us today. The Dachau Concentration Camp and Memorial is only about  30 minutes from the Oktoberfest grounds, so a few of us decided to go and see that this morning instead of the festival. We got on an inner-city train, which took us to Dachau and then took a bus out to the Concentration Camp. 

I didn’t completely know what to expect upon arrival to the Memorial. I knew the background of what happened here from the big units we did in our world history class in High School, but had no idea how moving it would be. We toured the grounds, which included the barracks where thousands of prisoners were held and literally stacked on boards to sleep at night. We saw the different memorials that they have since set up in remembrance of all those that lost their lives here.  The most disturbing part of this trip were the gas chambers. I am not able to write about what I experienced because it was too awful to even explain. I must say that this was one of the most moving experiences I have ever had and really makes all the history I have learned and the stories I have been told about these awful events so much more real. We also took a look around the museum they have set up on site, which has actual documents from prisoners that were kept at Dachau. They also had all the propaganda posters displayed from when Hitler was in power. This was also very strange, just to see how peoples thoughts and feelings changed from the beginning of Hitler’s rule to the end. (If you want to see pictures of the camp, please e-mail me. I would love to share them if you are interested but I don't want to post them on my blog.)

Here is one picture I took at Dachau. They incorporated
 barbed wire into many of the memorials and sculptures
 to symbolize the struggle each of the prisoners faced. 
The clouds were incredible the entire time we were there. 

After the Concentration Camp, we took the train back into Oktoberfest and had only a short time to grab lunch before our group met back up to head home to Florence. What a contrast between the Concentration Camp and Oktoberfest. I felt an almost overwhelming guilt being back at Oktoberfest after just witnessing such a depressing period of time. We drove back through Austria and I must say this was completely breathtaking! I had my camera out for almost a straight hour trying to capture the beautiful landscapes of mountains and rivers. It was like a scene out of the movie “Heidi”! My quote of the day today was “That must be why you don’t meet many Austrian’s in America, they would have to be crazy to leave this place!” 

Hope you all have a GREAT week! 

Love, Dana 

Some pictures of the landscapes in Austria! The mountain sides were all so beautiful and yet so different every 20 minutes! How is it possible to fit so much beauty into such a small amount of time! 

Germany Day 2: Augsburg

Saturday, September 25th

The cobblestone streets were so beautiful, I had
to get a picture with my rain boots and umbrella! 

Ausburg was such a cute town. The buildings were
beautiful! I know I say this about every town I've been to,
they had a look that was all their own! 

After such a long day on Friday, my friend Alicia and I decided to sleep in and explore the smaller town that our hostel was located in and take the train into town later. We were staying in a town called Ausburg, which is about an hour from the city center of Munich. We got ready for the day, asked where the town center was located, and were on our way. We stopped for coffee at a cute coffee shop called PowWow, which are apparently pretty popular in Germany. Since there were not many tourists in this town, everyone was there meeting up for Saturday morning coffee with friends and chit chatting in German. It was very cool just to relax and see what everyday life was like in a small German town. The PowWow was so cute and completely decked out in Pink. Everything was pink, which I of course loved! It almost felt like we were in our own little movie. We stayed there and had a couple Cappuccinos, just listening to everyone enjoying their morning, as it was a pretty dreary day outside again. After our coffee, we explored a little more and found out that it has a great little shopping district! What a nice surprise! 

A heap of pretzels we saw in a bakery window.
They are so popular there! 

After meandering around all the different shops and seeing the beautiful historic buildings, we realized it was already six o’clock and we were getting pretty hungry. We went to a traditional German restaurant and had to laugh when the waitress handed us thick menus, which were of course completely in German (I don’t know what we were expecting!). Just as we were about to do eenie meenie to pick what we wanted, the waitress asked if we wanted an English menu. Thank goodness! We ended up ordering Wiener schnitzel, which was SO TASTY! What a huge helping though! I don’t think they do much dieting in Germany J. After dinner, we headed back to our hostel to hang out for the rest of the night. It was nice to just meander around for the day with no real agenda. After today, I felt like I got a real taste of Germany instead of just the hype of Oktoberfest, which was great!  

Our yummy Wiener schnitzel!
Way too much for such a small girl though! 

Germany Day 1: Munich and OKTOBERFEST!

Friday, September 24th

Although this weekend was completely draining, it was also A LOT of fun! I had no idea that Oktoberfest was an actual festival and is actually quite a big family affair. There was so much fun, food, and color involved in this event which was not what I was expecting at all! Everyone from Germany wears traditional German clothing. The men wore "Lederhosen" and the women wore "Dirndls". The kids also wore miniature versions of the clothing. They were ADORABLE!

An adorable Dirndl I saw at the
 train station.I had to get a picture
of it, even if it is a bit less
traditional than most. 

The cutest little boy I have seen so far dressed
in a traditional outfit. He was so chic in his little
hat and jacket! 

We went to the train station at 11:00pm for our bus trip to Oktoberfest in Munich! We got on the bus, stopped at around 4:00am in Austria, then stopped again at 9:00am about 45 minutes outside of Munich. I slept for some of the trip but it wasw pretty uncomfortable. Our bus was having problems so we had to wait at the rest stop for almost 3 hours for our new bus to arrive. While we waited, one of our group leaders bought a mini-keg and we all had our first taste of Oktoberfest together curbside at a rest stop. Very funny! Once our new bus arrived, we headed into Munich for the festival. We walked on to the grounds and I instantly felt like a kid again. There were rides, food stands (literally every 10 feet), souvenier stands, and huge beer "tents".

Me and my friend Alyssa inside the Hofbrauhaus

A quick history on Oktoberfest. As late as last century there were as many as 24 breweries in Munich but now only 6 remain. These 6 are the only breweries permitted to sell at Oktoberfest and each make their own special brew for Oktoberfest. There was something called a "Bavarian Purity Law" passed in 1516 which states that all beer must be produced using barley or barley malt, hops and pure water. This law is followed by the breweries to the present day. (Basically, it was VERY VERY GOOD!) The six breweries still existing in Munich today are: Lowenbrau, Hofbrauhaus (where we spent the majority of our time when at the festival), Augustinerbrua, Paulaner (the largest brewery in Bavaria), Hacker-Pschorr, and Spaten Franziskaner (the largest tent holding over 10,000 seats... What?!).

The "Hofbrau Haus" beer tent! 

The festival is shaped sort of like a jelly bean with entrances on either side and two fairways down the middle which are lined with the six beer tents and food stands. The carnival rides are scattered everywhere too which was fun to watch. The food was also amazing! The most popular items were huge pretzels, whole rotisserie chickens, and "wieners"(hotdogs) that were over a foot long! Very funny to watch all the different techniques of eating these massive wieners!

So anyway, back to our day. We went into the hofbrauhaus and were immediately shocked by the madness that was happening behind the doors. The "tent" or "haus" was HUGE! Lined with rows upon rows upon rows of long tables and benches. There were people everywhere, standing on the tables and singing along to the live band that was on stage. They were waving their huge mugs in the air and laughing and dancing and singing, (even if they didn't completely know the words). Every table we passed wanted us to sit by them, but at this point we didn't know the rules about how to get served so we just wandered around the tables with our mouths hanging wide open at this great "cultural experience". Fairly soon after we got in the tent, a big group of our friends arrived and we happened to find a big table to stand at and order some beer. Then we were able to join in on all the fun. They played all american songs like "Hey Baby" and "Sweet Caroline" and also some polka music! What a great time! After staying here for a bit, we decided to head to a second tent and repeated the process like this for awhile.

Inside the beer tent. It is so hard to show how big it actually is! 

 At 4:00, every tent serves a 5-7 course meal in which you need to have reserved seating for. This is mostly just big German families because you need to reserve these tables over a year in advance. At this point, the randoms (me) get kicked out on the street. It just so happens that it started down pouring the minute we left the tent. With no umbrellas or rain boots, we were pretty sunk and basically walked around in the storm for about 5 hours until it was time to catch our shuttle bus back. This is where one of my quotes of the weekend came out. "I am literally going to need about 25 years of very intense psycho therapy after this night!" Although it was awful at the time, it is pretty funny to look back on now. Very miserable experience but it could always be worse right?


We took the shuttle back to our hostel which was about an hour outside of Munich. It was my first hostel experience so I wasn't quite sure what to expect but it was great! I shared a room with my friends I was traveling with and we were right next to the bathroom with really great showers. Hostels are perfect for travelers my age because we don't need all the extra amenities, just a place to sleep, shower and maybe brush our teeth. So when all was said and done, we decided it was a very good day!

GREAT NEWS!

I received some great news today that I thought I would share with everyone. I found out that I have been accepted into the Early Childhood program and the College of Education at Whitewater! I am so very excited! I want to send out a big thank you to Dave McSherry and Melissa Chung for signing off on so many hours for me. I  sincerely appreciate everyones support and am SO excited to be able to share this news with you! :) Hope everyone is having a great week! 


Love ALWAYS! 


Dana 

*Also just a little side note. If you are checking up on my blog frequently, please add yourself as a follower. I keep getting comments and compliments from people I had no idea even knew about it! I would love to hear from all of you! :)

Some big differences between Italy and the U.S.

Because my weeks are pretty boring now that I am on a schedule, I thought I would spice things up by sharing some differences I have noticed between Florence and home. I hope you enjoy! 

To flush the toilet, there are two buttons. One is small for “small things” and one is big for the “big things”. This is a great water saver!

The toilet in our bathroom! Notice the
buttons on the wall.. I know, weird that I'm
putting a picture up of a toilet on my blog! 

You must ask the waiter for the bill when you are out to eat. They will not just bring it when its looks like you’re ready to go. If you don’t know this, you could be there awhile!

No dryers. All clothes are hung up so they sometimes smell like laundry soap, smoke (from chimneys), or whatever you had for dinner the night before.

Italians don’t typically form lines. I had no idea about this until the first time I went to the grocery store by myself and people kept walking past me to go to the next register. At first I thought it was rude but it turns out its kind of handy, if you’re aggressive that is.

It is hard to find peanut butter and when you do, its super expensive. Nutella is the “spread of choice” here and is the same price as peanut butter would be at home. Yesterday my roommates got a jar of Nutella that was as big as my head for 2 Euro! Such a good saldi (sale)!


Wine is half the price of water here so when we go out to eat, we almost always get a pitcher of the house wine with our meal. This is not only very tasty, but also a great way to try all of Tuscany's different wines! If you do decide to get water, there are two kinds: Mineral water (acqua minerale) and sparkling water, or water with gas (acqua fizzante). I am not a fan of the "acqua fizzante" but am growing more accustomed to it.

When you order a sandwich (Panino) here, they always put it in an oven and warm it up a bit. They are different than what we think of as Panini’s because the cheese isn’t melted but they are so good! (I am a little addicted!)

This is my FAVORITE kind of Panino. Ham, HUGE
chunks of Mozzarella, juicy fresh tomatoes and lettuce!
YUM! I usually pick up a sandwich after class at the same 
place and the woman who owns it decided it was in my best interest to tell me she closes her shop next week for the season... Very Sad! 

I am officially in love.... with VERONA!

Saturday, Sept 18

VERONA!

Today we headed on a trip through our program to Verona! We were supposed to go to Cinque Terre, but it has been raining there so much the past week that they had to cancel the trip and change it to a different location, Verona. We arrived to our hotel at around noon, had free time to grab some lunch and explore and then we had a walking tour f the city. It was raining pretty hard when we got here and none of us were prepared in the least as far as umbrellas, rain boots, ponchos etc, so we went on a search. Luckily, all the stores were in the same little area. Unluckily, we were not about to buy rainboots at Gucci, so we went in search of some more "reasonably prices" weather appropriate clothing. After about an hour of searching in the rain, I finally found some boots I liked.

A more detailed look at my new boots

They were so cute with big red ladybugs all over them. I put them on, put my sandals in my purse, and we headed back to the hotel. Back in our room, I was admiring my new boots and noticed the black dots in the middle of each ladybug were actually skulls! I gasped, but it was actually very funny. This was of course the big joke of the weekend! At 3:00, we began our walking tour of the city and fortunately, the rain had stopped for the most part. We saw the colosseum, shopping street (again) and then the famous balcony where Romeo and Juliet would talk. So amazing to think about all the history in this place! Upon entering the court yard that houses the balcony, there is a narrow alley, almost like a covered hallway leading from the street into the court yard. All over the walls are signatures, notes, and thousands of names of people and their lovers.

All the writing on the wall going into the courtyard.

It is so incredible to imagine all these different people from all around the world coming to these walls to express their love for one another. Also in the courtyard, their is a beautiful statue of Juliet. There is an old story that says if you touch Juliet's right breast you will find true love and if you touch her left, you will become wealthy. I found it so interesting that her right breast was almost completely worn off from being rubbed and her left looked untouched. Even though I am sure the most romantic city (in maybe the entire world" makes most wish for true love, it also goes to show that if you have true love, you feel like the wealthiest person in the world!

The statue of Juliet in the courtyard. 

The courtyard at Juliets house. 
This is the famous balcony!
"Romeo, Romeo, where 
for art thou Romeo?...."

We continued our tour around monuments and then along the river (BEAUTIFUL!). Then we hopped on our bus to continue on the driving portion. We drove to the highest point in Verona which over looks the entire city. I am not exaggerating when I say that it was honestly the most fabulous, breathtaking, beautiful thing I have ever seen in my 21 years on this earth. So incredible in fact that my eyes began to water! (Who does that?!) I seriously can't believe I am here! It is too perfect. After the bus tour we went to grab a quick bite at a cute restaurant near our hotel followed, of course, by a couple big scoops of gelato! Then we headed back, hung out and had a little girl talk, then turned in for the night after a long, beautiful, exhausting, amazing day.

The beautiful bridge spanning the Adige river in Verona!
The water looked so cool and choppy here... Glad no one
fell in though! 

The view from the highest point in Verona! AHH!
Still can not get over it! :)

Sunday, Sept 19

This morning we woke up, had breakfast at the hotel, then set off for a day of exploring my new favorite city. We had a great time just wandering around and getting lost (but only a little!). We had a slow, relaxing lunch at a restaurant by the river and then got a little shopping done. I stopped to get some great embroidered key chains right near Juliet's house! It was so cool to watch these skilled women work the sewing machine! Then we hopped back on the bus at 4:00 (16:00 here) to head back to Firenze after an amazing time in Verona! 

*On the drive back, I was listening to my I-POD and the song "Dream Big" by Ryan Shupe came on. I felt like it was pretty ironic that we were driving through this beautiful mountainous terrain and I was listening to a song about dreaming. Here are a few of the lyrics:


When you cry be sure to dry your eyes
'Cause better days are sure to come
And when you smile be sure to smile wide
Don't let them know that they have won
And when you walk, walk with pride
Don't show the hurt inside
Because the pain will soon be gone

And when you dream, dream big
As big as the ocean blue
'Cause when you dream it might come true
When you dream, dream big

When you laugh be sure to laugh out loud
'Cause it will carry all your cares away
And when you see, see the beauty all around and in yourself
And it'll help you feel okay
And when you pray, pray for strength
To help you carry on
When the troubles come your way

My favorite pictures of the week

Hello All! I just did some picture editing and thought I would post some of my favorites from this week. Hope you all had a SPECTACULAR week and tgif tomorrow!  :)

Love,  Dana

A row of gondolas on the Grand Canal in Venice

Another picture from Murano, my favorite little village in the whole wide world!

A bridge over a small gondola canal. I loved the color and
architecture of the building behind the bridge! 

Another beautiful canal...

A picture I took out our kitchen window for my
Digital Photography class. 

The most beautiful and classic buildings in Venice.
I was a little obsessed with them! Each window on the
second building had a little flower basket hanging off it. 

The Dukes palace in the largest piazza in Venice, San Marco Square.
It was AMAZING!  

Of course, one more picture of Murano, just because  :)

A new Italian friend! :)

Not much is happening today. We attempted to go to the huge open air market this morning, which is only on Tuesdays. Attempted being the key word there. We didn't technically get lost, it was just a little further than we had anticipated and so we decided to be quitters today! Maybe we'll have better luck next week.

When we got back to the apartment from our little excursion, our cleaning service woman was over. I began to strike up a little conversation with her (with the use of my dictionary of course) and it turns out she is 21 as well. She said she studies in Brazil and has studied there for 3 years. I didn't actually figure out why she wasn't there now but that was a little tricky to ask. She speaks only Italian and I of course speak English and very very basic Italian. We ended up talking for most of the 30 minutes she was there and then she asked if I had facebook. I thought this was so cool that she got just as excited to add a new friend on facebook as I would. It was actually my first experience having a long conversation (or trying to) with someone in Italian and I really enjoyed it. I am excited that I met someone new and that I will be able to practice at least once a week with her and possibly more if we decide to ever meet up.


I had my second Public Relation Strategies class this afternoon. We got assigned partners for our big group projects. Our group is working on promoting an anti-aging cream for Aveeno. Any suggestions on how to go about this would be great  :)


Well, I'm off on an adventure to find a highlighter. Who knew they would be so hard to find over here!

CIAO for now!  :)

Here is a picture we took on our way back from the train 
station on Sunday night. The bridges and buildings were so 
beautifully lit up as the sun was just setting. 
This is the Arno river which is about 2 minutes 
from our apartment!

Viareggio Beach

Viareggio beach with the mountain range in the distance

This morning, we woke up at the crack of dawn (which was difficult after our long day yesterday), hopped on a train, and headed to the beach. We arrived in Viareggio at around 10:00 and walked to our reserved beach spots (I am so glad we decided to go with our school! So many Perks!). This was the most amazing beach I have ever seen! I was laying on my beach chair and could not only see the Mediterranean sea, but the beautiful snow capped mountains in the distance! The weather was PERFECT for laying out, relaxing, swimming in the ocean, and meeting some really great people who also go to our school.

Lots and lots of umbrellas and white sand! 

We laid out in the sun, took a nap, grabbed a burger down the street, swam, then basically repeated everything all over again. The water was so warm but very salty! Definitely not used to that up in Wisconsin! We saw SO MANY speedos! I had no idea they were this big of a trend in Europe! Also, a few topless women (no, we were not at nude beach and yes, it was kind of awkward)! I must say European beaches are much different than any beach in America. This was probably my first taste of real "culture shock"! Although it was a pretty unproductive day, it was a great one! When we went back to get on our train, we found out the conductors and workers were going on strike! We had to sit and wait at the station for an extra hour and almost another 3 hours. It was a strange experience being stranded and pretty helpless, even though they got their act together and put us on a train pretty quick. I had no idea these strikes happened a couple times a week! Who knew the conductors were so greedy!

Happy Birthday Grandma Marie! I just got done skyping with my Grandma, and must say that after seeing the ocean, the mountains, and taking my first European train ride, being able to talk to my family was by far the best part of my day! I hope you all have a great week! Love, Dana :)

VENICE!

Saturday, September 11th

Me on my favorite little island!

This morning we got up early to head to Venice! We booked a day trip through a group called "bus to alps" which is a company that sets up trips throughout the semester for students interested in going on traveling for cheap. We are also doing trips to the South of Italy and Germany through this company. Very cool that they set all this up for such a great price! Our leaders name was Mike and he studied in Florence a few years ago. He ended up getting an internship with "bus to alps" and actually travels Europe with study abroad students for his full-time job! (Of course I got a little info on all this). We met Mike at the train station and then hopped on the bus from there. Venice is only about a 3 hour bus drive from Florence, which is surprisingly close. We arrived in Venice at around noon and hopped on our first "water bus", which took us out to the two islands associated with Venice.

The beautiful, colorful town of Burano!

We first went to Burano which is the furthest island from Venice. Let me just tell you right now that if I am ever missing, I have packed up and moved to this Island! It was tiny, maybe smaller than Hollandale (okay that may be stretching it but they're pretty comparable). Every single house on this island is a different, bright color. I really feel like they have some kind of city ordinance that says you can not have the same color of house as your neighbor. It was so perfect just walking around looking at these cute, vibrant houses with the breeze blowing in from the sea and the sun shining down. It was definitely another smiley day! :)

Pictures do this place no justice!

After they finally dragged me off the island, we headed to the second island called Morrano. Morrano is an island very famous for glass blowing. There is a huge factory and many demonstrations going on all day. They are able to make such beautiful pieces of art and it is so much fun to watch! I had no idea Venice was so famous for their glass, but I can see why it is!

After Morrano, we headed back to Venice on the water bus. We stopped at St. Marc's square where they had a huge piazza surrounded by beautiful old buildings and a huge church.

Bird lady.. Seriously?!

There were also way too many pigeons! I can honestly say I will never turn into one of those tourists that feeds the pigeons and has them land on them to take pictures. YUCK! Any who, we walked around the piazza, then headed down a sidewalk adjacent to the grand canal. We stopped to listen to a man singing on a gondola (who looked a lot like Robert on the TV show "Everybody Loves Raymond"... ) We grabbed dinner at a yummy little restaurant with some very accommodating Italian waiters. It was a fun meal to say the least. We then hopped back on the water bus to meet our bus.

Up until this point, I wasn't the biggest fan of Venice (especially after seeing the little island of Burano) just because of all the tourists and over population of birds. Seeing it at night however completely changed my view on this city. Every building along the canal was beautifully lit up, illuminating the water. There were people laughing and dancing at restaurants and others sitting on their balconies enjoying a glass of wine. The atmosphere was so magical. I was literally taking it all in with my mouth wide open. I still can not believe how incredible it was.

The Grand Canal lit up at night! So pretty!

 It was in this moment that I realized just how fortunate I am to have this experience. Seriously, who gets to just hop on a bus to visit Venice for the day? When we got back on the bus, I was both exhausted and excited from the day we had. I would definitely not mind visiting Venice again :)

The Medici Villa

The view of the gardens, city, and hills from the deck of the palace

This morning, we headed to the Medici Villa (which is more of a palace than anything!). The Medici's were the Vanderbilts of Florence. You see their name all over the city and they have a part in most of the major monuments. We took a city bus over to the other side of town and then had about a 20 minute walk to the Palace. The "villa" sits on top of a huge hill and overlooks the entire city. It is completely surrounded by gardens and huge fountains. What a beautiful paradise. To top it off, this was not even the Medici's actual home. This was their "summer getaway"! Must be nice huh?

The beautiful gardens! 

On the inside of the building, there were huge chandeliers in every room, beautiful tapestries, and statues dating back to before the 1800's. The history of this place was unbelievable! The only downside of the day was that our tour guide was not bilingual, so we had to figure out many things about the house on our own.  I think this is the first time I have met a tour guide that didn't speak English! I still had a pretty good time using my imagination though! Sadly, we could not take pictures inside the palace but I did get many of the garden!

A rectangle pond in front of the Palace.
I love the reflection of the clouds!

After our tour, we had a little picnic in the gardens and walked back to the bus stop. By the way, I have never had much (okay.. ANY) experience with public transportation in my life and I am not a fan of it. The buses are hot and always packed with very loud Italians. I miss my car for sure even though I know it would not get me far in this city. Maybe I will talk to my dad about getting a Vespa? :) I'm sure he will be all over that (not)! I hope everyone has had a great week and I am so excited to share my experience in VENICE tomorrow! Can you believe it?! VENICE!

Signing off with love as always! Hugs and Kisses from Florence! 


Dana