First off, I need to extend a huge apology to all my friends and family for not blogging lately. It's the life of a world traveler, let me tell you. ;-)  But in all seriousness, I have been SO busy! There is so much to tell you all, so I have decided to split my past two weeks into two posts just to keep it all together.  First we must start with my first week of classes and my first weekend trip away!

I haven't been able to say this for a long time, but I actually look forward to going to school everyday!  I'm taking Italian, Photography, and Painting.  Everything is taught in Italian, except for photography, and I love it!  Although my italian still needs a lot of work, I can tell that I'm improving. In painting, we picked a famous Italian painting to recreate and I chose one of Michelangelo's.  It'll be interesting to see how that turns out!  I'm also really enjoying my Italian class which I have for 4 hours everyday.  There's only four people in the class with me, so we often get off topic and talk about random things with our teacher, Elena, (in italian, of course). 

The funniest moment had to be when we were trying to explain to Elena what Black Friday is in the US.  She did not believe us when we told her people wait for hours to get into the stores and run in when the stores open.  As we are explaining - yes, this happens every year, in the past people have been trampled on and pepper-sprayed, even a few have died - we all realize how crazy we (Americans) sound!  What we will do for a good deal on a TV!  Her face was priceless - she was so shocked, and asked us multiple times if this was some type of legend or story, and refused to believe us until she you-tubed it and saw it for herself.  

Adjusting to the Italian lifestyle has been a lot easier than I thought that it would be. I have found that Italy and I are similar in many ways.. for example, we both share a deep love for chocolate!!  Walking back from class one day, we stumbled on Verona's very own chocolate festival in Piazza Bra (the main piazza)!  So many chocolate vendors lined up, handing us samples of their chocolate.  It was a delicious discovery. 

Gucci shoes made of chocolate! 

Chocolate in the form of cheese... only in Italy.

Who knew chocolate could be such an art? 

After an eventful and exhausting first week, it was time for our first trip together!  On Saturday, we all headed to the North of Italy to visit Bolzano!  Bolzano is a beautiful city, set against a backdrop of mountains.  On the Bolzano trip, we visited Ötzi (also known as the Iceman), who is a mummified man that was preserved in ice for around 5,200 years!  It was really interesting, but also very strange.  An interesting tidbit I learned in the museum:  Brad Pitt has a tattoo of Ötzi on his arm.  After seeing the museum, a few of us ventured out into the city (guided by Rick Steve's travel book - thanks Tommy and Ashley!) to see the sites.  Towards the end of the trip, a few of us took a cable car ride above the mountains. It was incredible.

Walther von der Vogelweide in Bolzano's main square 

The Cathedral

The view out of our cable car...
We felt like we were on top of the world!

We ended the day in Trento, and got a tour of a castle there! It was so cool! The next day, we went and visited Mantova, which is also in the northern part of Italy.  There, we got to see Palazzo Te and Palazzo Ducale.  These palaces were owned by the Gonzaga family.  They started out as poor farmers and worked their way up to become one of the richest and most powerful families in Italy.  Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures there, but I did get a picture of something really cool outside the palace!

Galaverna (frozen fog!)

Galaverna is a natural phenomenon where fog freezes, unlike frost, which is frozen dew. It clings to trees and gates like this one, and makes it look like it's snowed, even though it hasn't. It was really cool to see! 

I'm loving Italy, but miss you all very much!  Stay tuned for more posts about my trip to Florence and Pisa this past weekend, the tragic tale of my bicicletta, and my experience with Italy's earthquake this past week! :) CIAO!