Traveling the Tuscan Coast with Friends, Food and Love!

This past weekend, I traveled along the Mediterranean Sea and went to the cities of Talamone, Baratti and Butteri. This trip was a SAI (Study Abroad Program) inclusive trip (I didn't have to pay for anything). It was so much fun getting away from the busy and loud city of Florence and go to the countryside. I left on Friday and we took a 3 hour bus ride to Talamone. During the whole bus ride, I slept. When we got to the hotel, we got settled.  I roomed with Alexis and Brittany and Celia and Sara (They are both from Texas and they are hilarious)  were right next door to us. Oh yes in our hotel room, our toilet folded up so we could have more room in the bathroom, very unique.

 We all got back on the bus and rode to the central part of Talamone. The sun was setting and we got some awesome photos.

Alexis, Me and Brittany

Alexis and I

Roommate LOVE! <3

Alexis, Me, Brittany looking away in the sunset! 

That night we ended up eating dinner at 8pm at our hotel. Let me tell you, I was hungry but I don't think I was ready for all of the food that they were going to serve us. We ended up getting a 5 course meal and I tried everything. I was FULL!! Here are the pictures of all of the courses:

Brucchette and other appetizers

Bean Soup

Seafood and Noodles 

Chicken and Eggplant

Tiramisu

Saturday:
I had breakfast at the hotel in the morning before starting off my day. The breakfast was amazing and I just kept on eating and eating because it was all included. They even had individual packets of nutella, LOVE! After breakfast we were on our way for a guided tour of Baratii. There is an archaeological park there and we got a lovely tour about the history of the park.

After the tour we got to go to the beach. It was a beautiful day outside to lay out in the sun. I had to bring my Italian notebook along because I had a quiz on Monday, so I studied for that a little bit on the beach. I also went looking for shells and pretty rocks, but there were no shells on this beach. When I was looking for rocks, I ended up slipping on a slippery rock and fell on my butt. I scratched my arm up (like a quarter size scratch) and I currently have a bruise on my butt from falling on the rocks. I am good though, I didn't have to go to the doctor.

After a whole day at the beach, we head out to dinner at a Ristorante called "II Bottegone". This restaurant had a gorgeous view of the Mediterranean Sea and it was on top of the hills. This time we only got a 3 course meal, but it was still delicious.

Risotto Rice with Seafood

Tiramisu again! :)

Yup the food was amazing!! After eating dinner, everyone went down to the sea to look at the fancy and expensive boats and we saw some amazing yachts!! Then our trip leaders paid for everyone to have gelato after our big meal (hey it was free, I was not going to pass up an opportunity).

Sunday:
I had breakfast again and then I was off to an equestrian show in Butteri. The equestrian show was located at on gorgeous land with also a hotel and restaurant. I got to ride a horse after the show.

After the horse/cow show we had lunch at a restaurant called Fattoria "Le Guardiole" and we had organic food. The restaurant/spa/hotel that we ate at had a gorgeous view and I loved the color of the building (coral and white).

Here was our lunch:

Random Pictures/Memories from the Week:

WE GOT ANOTHER ROOMMATE!!! :) Her name is Lia and she is from Massachusetts. She is a Fashion Merchandising Major and wants to be a buyer at a store someday. We went to a restaurant that our tour guide Martina suggested to us because it is really good. We even mentioned her name and we got a discount (was 70 euros, but we only had to pay 60 euros) and free tiramisu.

Roommate Dinner!! 

Gnocchi (Soft chicken dumplings)

I think it was on a Friday night, and I went out to celebrate my friend Celia's Birthday!!! We went to Dantes to eat and then sat on the bridge and talked!!

Sara (Left) Celia (Middle) Alexis (back) Me (right) in out apartment! 

We LOVE each other!!! 

I saw this artist painting on the street and I thought it was pretty cool, so I took a picture of it!

I made homemade pizza in my class on Monday!! We used all fresh food and it was amazing!! I want to try to make homemade pizza again!

Day Trip to the Cheese Farm!

On Saturday (Sep. 17th)  I went to the Podere Cheese Farm and Greve in Chianti, Italy. It was a really fun adventure and I got to see the country side of Italy and get out of the city. I also got to see some vineyards and try some grapes. yum, yum!

Cheese Farm Place

We started off our adventure by taking a bus to Chianti, Italy. It was about an hour bus ride from Florence, in which I slept the whole time because I didn't get much sleep the night before. Once we got there we walked to the Podere Cheese Farm and we saw the gorgeous countryside of Italy.  Since we were going into the cheese making room we had to put on a 'shower cap' (so our hair would not get in the cheese) and footies on. When I walked into the cheese room, I really did smell like cheese and I was thinking about Wisconsin, since Wisconsin is the 'cheesehead" state!

Cheese making room!

Me in the shower cap

This was our 'cheese guide' who has been making cheese for 3 years now. 

This is goat's milk and cheese.

They showed us how their cheese farm makes cheese. We even got to make cheese, which was awesome to see. They use a lot of goat milk in their cheese.

Me making cheese!

We eventually ate this cheese with bread

Brittany, Me, Cheese guy and Alexis

After we learned how to make cheese, we got to see the goats that provide the milk for the cheese. The goats were really friendly and they came right up to us. We just had to make sure that we did not step in goat poop. What I thought was pretty cool was that they are all had names.

I made a friend! 

After tasting fresh cheese and bread that were made at the cheese farm, we walked for about 45 minutes to the Greve in Chianti ( a city close to the cheese farm). While we were walking, the sun was so hot and we were walking up hills and everything. Let me tell you, I for sure got a lot of exercise!! The walk was worth it! While we were walking we saw the beautiful countryside. It was gorgeous! I am saw grapes on vines and I even tasted a couple. The grapes were really good and sweet (I wish they were a little bigger thought).

GRAPES!!! They were really good!

Just so everyone knows, I did not eat all of those grapes at the same time!! 

Alexis, Me and Brittany



 Overall the day was really fun and exhausting!! :)

Pictures from the night before on our city walk with Martina:
Our school provides us with a lot of activities such as city walks, connecting culture meetings, zumba, yoga, movie nights, trips and ect. Something city walks about twice a week around the city of Florence (which is really helpful because that is how we get to know Florence) and Martina is the tour guide. She is the best tour guide ever and she knows everything about Florence. She also gets us free food and knows all of the locals!! On this particular night we got free gelato. I got yogurt nutella and dark chocolate and it was delicious!!

Alexis, Alex, Brittany and Me

Martina is the one in the first row and middle!

     

Before the walking tour we went out to my favorite restaurant called "Dantes". This place is cheap and you can drink free wine with your meal!!

Dantes (right around the corner from our apartment)!!! 

Food I made in Class this Past Week: 

I made this in my Food, Culture and Society Class. It is called Coccole. We ate it with ham and cheese.  

I made this in my Mediterranean Diet Class. We  made Pesto, Tapenade (Olive Oil Paste) and Bruschetta. It was delicious!!

Random Picture of the week:

Yesterday (Sep. 20th) we wanted to check out this pub called, "One Eyed Jack" (it is right around the corner from our apartment. We were told specifically to look for this bald guy because last semester this girl who studied abroad from our school, Carly, would always go to One Eyed Jack and she became friends with the bald guy and she told us to meet the bald guy. So we saw the bald guy and Me, Brittany and I decided to stop in  to meet him. We stopped in and once we mentioned Carly's name, he was talking about how he misses her and her roommates and how they would always come and talk with him. He ended up giving us free shots and they were called 'love shots'. We plan on going back again!!! :)