NOVEMBER?

I have quickly realized that I have not blogged anything about November yet, and it is already November 20th. So, here goes nothing...

The first week of November (4-9th) was dedicated to showing guests around Rome. We hit up all the major places, such as the Colosseum, Piazza Navona, the "Andy Steve" dinner, the Vatican, Dar Poeta, etc.
One cool part was when Ali, her cousin, Morgan, and I explored the island that is right by our house and ate the BEST eggplant parm (with ricotta cheese and walnuts inside). It was super good, but not as good as the gelato we enjoyed before our lunch on the island. Too good actually.

November 12th:
Art history/ food and wine recap:

For art history we ran from site to site in the rain. We visited 3 churches and a palace, which were cool, but not the best site visit thus far.
HOWEVER. Food and wine class was my FAVORITE thus far. For sure. We took a site visit to a gelato shop and watched this old Italian man make hazelnut gelato from scratch. He showed us how he melts Nutella into the actual gelato and then we got to try 3 different flavors. I ordered pistachio, the freshly-made hazelnut, and chocolate. It was the best gelato I have had in Rome.

November 13th:
Didn't really do anything super cool this day.

November 14th:
HUNGER GAMES PREMIERE!!!

The movie, The Hunger Games (the 2nd one) was released in Rome and all the major celebs traveled to Rome to walk the red carpet. So, Ali, Emmy, Venesha, and I decided to just show up to the event and see what happened. We went further out in the city and ended up seeing the stars! We just walked up to the red carpet as screams erupted abut 100 feet away. We ran to see what the deal was, and sure enough, LIAM Hemsworth was there. He was so incredibly hot, I cannot even deal. Then we stayed by the red carpet and Josh Hutcherson and Jennifer Lawerence walked right by us and it was SO COOL. Venesha even got Josh's autograph. After the celebs left, we decided to push our luck again and we actually walked on the red carpet, met some Italian celebrities (?) and then went into the lobby of the venue. Overall, it was a very amazing experience that no one else can say they did in Rome!

November 15th:
FLORENCE!
The roommates and I left super early this morning with our program and made our way to Florence. I loved Florence the first time that I visited, and I knew that it was going to be great again. We started off with a walking tour of the whole city/town. It was a little boring, but then we went to a delicious free lunch with everyone in our program! It was so cool to eat with some girls that we usually don't hang out with and enjoy all the free food. Then, we all went to a famous leather shop, where Michelle knew the owner, and bought a ton of leather goods for cheaper than usual. Actually, I only bought one really nice hunter green purse, but I am in love with it. At night, we ate a famous panini place and we hung out with the girls in our program. So much fun.

November 16th:
PISA!
After shopping in the leather markets in the morning, Ali, Danielle, Emmy, and I took a train to Pisa, where we met our friend from school, Kara. We only had 2 hours in Pisa, so we ate at another famous panini place, and rushed off to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The Tower was huge and it was hilarious that every person was trying to get a perfect picture with it. Really cool