Part 2 - Christmas time in the city!

Quick update on my last weeks in Edinburgh before coming home for break: I only had 1 exam this semester (don’t be too jealous, I have 5 at the end, 2 of which I wont have had the classes for months… will be interesting to see how my memory fares) and my 1 exam wasn’t till the very last day of the exam period – dec 15th. So after we got back from Italy I still had a nice break before I even had to start studying. It was nice just spending time with my friends, some of whom won’t be returning next semester = ( and exploring the city. Edinburgh is great at this time of the year especially – they set up this whole Christmas carnival in Princes Street Gardens in the center of the city, right near where I live, and even have a German Market set up for the whole month. The lights went up right around Thanksgiving, so the whole city is lit up with Christmas cheer – I know it’s cheesy but I can’t help always having “silver bells” in my head! Had way too much fun Christmas shopping, much to the benefit of all my friends and family haha, and even the crowds on Princes Street (the main shopping street with all the big chain stores and such) didn’t bother me – especially with bagpiping santas for distraction!

Also, just want to add, that it is surprisingly uncold for December. All my friends are starting to complain about the chill, but really I’ve been getting away wearing my fall jacket and a light scarf most of the time and I’m fine! I just keep reminding myself of Chicago winter and I really can’t complain! Even the grass is still brilliantly green! And as I tell people, even though it’s been getting a bit gloomier, it makes it all the better when you get a bright blue sunny day – can’t help but smile when out walking about = ) But yes, in between enjoying the city and getting all my xmas shopping done, I did manage to study hard and my exam went pretty well. I spent that last weekend in Edinburgh celebrating the end of the semester with friends. It was sad saying good bye to those people who won’t be returning, mainly my good friends I met through my program, Mary and Courtney, and Julie, best friend from NU who went to Italy with me. I’ll miss them a lot, but am so glad to have met them and am looking forward to next semester when my other good friend from school Gabby is coming! I’m also thankful for all the British friends I’ve made through EUMC. I think that’s one of the smartest things I did over here, joining mountaineering. I’ve met so many amazing people and now I’m so glad to know I have so many friends to come back to! I’m so excited to be home for Christmas to see my friends and fam, but I’m also eagerly anticipating next semester at Edinburgh. Staying for the year was definitely the right decision! There are so many things I’m still planning on doing, so you can look forward to more exciting blogs in the New Year I promise!!!

My love to all on the holidays, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

~R

Part 1 of December Summary (sorry for the brief blog hiatus)

Ooook so I was feeling guilty about not having blogged in awhile and decided to take advantage of being on break (safely back home in La Crosse for Christmas!) to catch up… spent the last 2 hrs doing an “italy trip” blog… only to have blogger have some kind of technical difficulty when I hit the post button and delete my entire entry…. Needless to say Rachel is a little frustrated right now! BUT second try is under way, this time being typed in word to be copy and pasted later – should have thought of this earlier! OH WELL! Sorry this second go is going to be a bit shorter, hope you’ll understand!

ITALY: November 27 - December 5

Italy trip was AMAZING, note that I say “trip” though instead of “vacation” – it was definitely more adventure than relaxation, but what can one expect when traveling in Europe? We saw so many beautiful sights, enjoyed tons of good food and wine, and met many friendly people (most of them other travelers… not necessarily the Italians, who tended to just look at us like we were crazy when we tried to speak in broken Italian haha). Here’s a brief summary of where we went and what we did:

Milan – basically just flew in and out of Milan, it’s a big metropolitan city, busy and dirty… weren’t too eager to stay longer than the necessary overnight in a hotel.

Cinque Terre – can’t even express how beautiful this area was. We stayed in Rio Maggiore, the 1st of 5 villages along the coast included in the region known as Cinque Terre. We met some very nice young people traveling like ourselves who showed us a good place to stay and filled us in about the path that runs between all of the villages. We spent the day hiking along this path, through vineyards along the coasts, and exploring the different villages. It was great, but a little eery since everything felt pretty deserted (I think we saw more cats than people!) probably since its not high tourist season. It was a perfect beginning to our trip though since we got to enjoy a serene peaceful area and not worry about crowds and seeing the “sights.” Just hiked around, hung out with the friends we met (very nice Canadians and Australians, so great to meet other people traveling and hear about their travels and different perspectives), and enjoyed the fact that we were in ITALY = )

Florence – moved on to Florence, stopping in Pisa on the way to see the Leaning Tower! Stayed in Florence for 3 days, seein the city – exploring the markets, parques, museums, and shops – took a trip to Sienna one and even went on a tuscan wine tour in Chianti! The tour was great, they took us to the chapel of St Brigit in the countryside and a castle where the family still lives and runs the vineyards. We got to see the cellars with their award winning wine and olive oil, and have a wine tasting! We felt very classy ; )

Bologna – Our last days were spent visiting a friend from school, Aimee, who’s studying abroad in Bologna for the year. It was great to stay in an actual flat and have someone familiar with Italian culture – and language! – as our guide. Aimee was great, we learned so much, of course at the END of our trip! She took us out for “appertivi” – the Italian custom of going out to a café at night, ordering a nice cocktail, and then you get free appetizers, usually pasta, cheese, and bread type things. The Italians go for appertivi around 7, sit there for hours, then eat dinner at 10 and go out clubbing as late as 5 am! Crazy lifestyle, fun for the night but I don’t know if I could handle some of the other cultural aspects, such as the intense PDA (couples hardcore making out right next to you at a pub or club, or even in class according to aimee!) or the American-loving Italian men (we had guys buy us a bottle of champagne at the club we went to, one calling me “bellisima” and telling me he wanted to “go walking” with me… sketchy, luckily the girls filled us in on their usually escape method, say your going to dance and then “dance” to the door, haha) Despite those interesting cultural glimpses, Bologna was awesome, seeing Aimee was great and it was a perfect end to our trip!

So that was it, quick 8 days away, but jam-packed with adventures! It was good to get a break from school, especially before going back to studying and exams : / In the end though we were excited to get back to the burgh!
(again, the rest of my pics are on webshots, check ‘em out!)

~R