(Thursday, February 18 - Sunday, February 21)
Back in February, Tom, Lizzie and I packed up our bags and hopped on a train to Florence to go see Christina, our good friend from home, for her 21st birthday. After our three hour long train ride (during which I atleast ATTEMPTED to study my art history homework), Christina and her dad and his girlfriend, Amy, met us at the train station. It was soo nice to see them , I couldn't stop smiling honestly. We walked arouond the streets of Florence for a bit and Mr. Mangine took us all out to a nice Italian restaurant for Christina's birthday dinner. We spent the meal catching up and talking about home, our new schools, friends apartments and travels. Christina took us back to her apartment to drop our stuff off and get situated, and we got to meet her roommates (there are NINE of them! can you imagine?) who were all very friendly. We then met up with some of our other friendsfrom Gustavus that were studying abroad in Florence and had a fun night with them, Christina and her parents out on the town.
When we got up in the morning, Christina took us out for croissants and cappuccinos and we met up with Mr. Mangine and Amy at their hotel. They took us out for a really nice meal again, during which they all made fun of me for being a bottomless pit when it comes to food (I ate my entire pizza, split a pasta with Lizzie and ate half of Christina's pizze...). I'm going to miss Italian food! I have to eat as much of it as I can while I can! We spent the afternoon walking the streets of Florence, which was just so calming because it was so quiet and clean comparerd to Rome. We also walked through a few of the markets on the streets and saw the Ponte Vecchio, Florence's famous bridge. It was ultimately a very chill day, we didn't really see a lot of sights but it was very nice to spend time with Christina and her parents. Mr. Mangine took us out for a few drinks and appetizers, and we hungout there watching Italian MTV, which mostly consists of American music oddly enough and we were just DYING to see our favorite video: Lady Gaga "Bad Romance" :)
The next day, Christina and her dad and Amy slept in but Tom, Lizzie and I got an early start. We headed out and did a little shopping at the markets, got some gelato and set out to go see the Cathedral. We explored the cathedral for a bit, it was gorgeous and it had candles to light, so each of us lit a candle and sat down to say a prayer. We wanted to climb to the top of the cathedral, but the Campanile right next to it was cheaper so we did that instead... 
even though this turned out to be an exhausting experience. We did end up climbing to the top of the campanile, after taking several breaks, but the view at the top of the whole city was totally worth it! Christina met up with us after that and she took us to her favorite hill to climb (great, more climbing) that was across the river on the other side of the city. The view was once again beautiful and we stayed up there for a while and people watched until it started to rain. 
We headed back to Christina's apartment and Mr. Mangine met up with us there. He owns an Italian deli back in Eagan and is an excellent cook, so he offered to cook all of us a traditional Italian meal and boy was it good! I loved it because he talked us through everything he did while he cooked and gave us tips, which Tom Lizzie and I definitely needed since we have to cook for ourselves everyday back in Rome and we were getting incredibly sick of pasta with red sauce. In fact, since then we have successfully made our own homemade fetuccine sauce!
The next day, the three of us got up early to catch a train to Pisa. We made it to Pisa and made a long trek from the train station to the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Cathedral, but it was a charming little town. We took our pictures, bought a few postcards and a couple cokes and headed back to the train station to hop on a train to Siena. I would just like to say at this point that our idea to do TWO day trips in ONE day was not the smartest one ever. We got to Siena and once again didn't really have any idea where we were going (it was like Tivoli all over again, but with a giant hill to climb). By the time that we finally found the area that we wanted to be in, it was time to head back to the train station to catch the last train to Rome. So in actuality we didn't see and of the sights or attractions of Siena, so we're pretending like we havent been there yet. Maybe we'll make it back before the end of the semester. Although the last day was exhausting and it took a HUGE toll on my feet (not a smart idea to wear leather boots while doing that much walking!), I had an awesome weekend!
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