Italia: Apparently I love Italian food.

Just not American Italian food. I've downloaded recipes to try cooking this summer but pumpkin gnocchi, tiramisu and fresh ITALIAN pizza are amazing (American pizza is good too, but man, gotta love the Italian crust...)

I went backpacking through some Italian cities with another student in my Madrid program, and really liked Italy. It doesn't hurt that knowing Spanish makes understanding Italian a litttttttle easier. BUT here's the places I went:

Milan: Why? It was the cheapest flight (50 euros for two people, one-way). Plus free room (travel buddy had a cousin). There's not a lot in Milan, though, except that the second night we were there was the eve of the Inter-Milan v. Bayern championship game and man, Italians love their soccer. I watched it from the Piaza di Duomo big screens and all I can say is THANK GOD Milano won, it would've been drunkenly scary to witness a loss. Lots of noise, fireworks, screaming and drunken football chants.

Lago di Como: Gorgeous day trip, there are such amazing houses around Lake Como. For example: for those of you who have seen the 007 Casino Royal, the house where Bond gets Mr. White in the end? That house? Yeah that's on the lake. Took a little cruise on it which was great, esp. with such nice weather.

Florence: Got to visit some friends in Gonzaga-in-Florence, which was great. Was only there one day, which is actually enough time when you move as fast as I do (slash don't really stop moving at all). My favorite place was the Piaza di Michelangelo, which has a gorgeous panoramic view of the city, as well as the Ufizzi museum (though you have to wait over an hour to get in!) Also if you need a hostel: Plus Florence has a good location, but it offers too many extras (plus more expensive- 3euros for a towel? Really!?) that are completely useless if you are not taking a real vaca there, like a pool (gross looking) and a "work-out center" (two treadmills).

Assisi: My favorite Italian town I saw. Most people are there to see the Cathedral of St Francis, and I was no exception (despite not really being religious, I do connect with a lot of the St Francis stuff, plus I had a class on him last semester so I knew a LOT about the paintings, monuments, history of the cathedral). Even if you are not interested in St Francis, it's a gorgeous town (dare I say quaint?) which feels more authentic than any of the other places I visited.

On the downside it's really far out of the way- a high speed train Florence > Rome is like an hour (?) but it's a 2.5 hr train Florence> Assisi then another 3 hrs to Rome. But what can I say, they never said a pilgrimage was easy.

In front of the Basilica of St Francis

Rome: The big one. I got to see an old friend which was great, plus he showed me a lot of cool stuff and taught me some Italian.

Saw the:

-Coliseum. Lots of tourists but there's a reason. It's awesome. Plus it's amazing to think about the history of the place. Though I've never seen the movie "Gladiator" (I know, I know, it's bad; I'll watch it soon!!!) you can imagine the epicness of everything going down in the arena.

-Palatine Hill/Roman forum. I liked this place better than the coliseum (it's right next to it, too) since it is a nice walk and even has the "Romulean huts", where Romulus and Remus were apparently raised. Pretty cool if you ask me.

-Vatican. I saw the pope. No biggie. But actually didn't enter; I remember from when my fam and I went how crowded the piaza was and honestly, I liked John Paul WAY better than I like Benedict. So there was little appeal to spend tons of time there (plus I didnt go inside).

-Sistine Chapel. Gorgeous building/paintings but expensive (8euros for a student! Double that for non-students) And you have to walk FOREVER to get to a crowded room where you see the actual chapel done by Michelangelo. I snuck a pick of the Adam/God painting, tho ;)

Coliseum!!!

Overall Italy rocks. And like I said... FOOD is AMAZING. People, for the most part, are nice, esp. if you put forth an effort (I always started off with "Parla inglese?" because I hate it when people just barge in with English, assuming everyone speaks it). Lots and lots of tourists, from every part of the world. And why not? Italy is a culture hotspot, an amusement park of history, and has some of the best food in the world!!!