Around Florence

even the italian thugs are in the holiday spirit

santa croce christmas market

the most delicious dolce and gabbana window display :)

mmmm fruity drinks at Mayday

mayday bars funky lighting

salamanca is all decked out for christmas!

Piazza Michelangelo and San Miniato

The most beautiful views in all of Florence, hands down. 

On the ledge across from San Miniato, a beautiful old church. 

cemetery of San Miniato

te amo firenze!

Rachael on the stairs above Piazza Michelangelo

warmest scarf ever, thanks momma!

The Baptistry

Today i stopped into the Baptistry (which is the octagonal building across from the front of the Duomo) on my way home from the bookstore and it is absolutely spectacular. I just stared up for about 20 minutes trying to take in the massive fresco on the ceiling.  i had the whole place practically to myself apart from some little old ladies all bundled up in their winter coats, that made me miss my grandma's a ton. I love you Grum! and i'm always thinking about you grandmommy :)

Luci! Lights!

the lights in the city are spectacular and i just had to share them with you! these are just a couple streets i walk on the way back from class so you can imagine how beautiful the rest of the city is. 

across from piazza strozzi

this is right under my window! mine is cut off but im on the top floor 

via leading into piazza del republica

Christmastime in Florence

LOOK AT WHAT IS GOING UP NEXT TO THE DUOMO!! its dripping with lights tooo. i cant wait for christmas!!

Winter Wonderland

I went to amsterdam with my roommate Rachael this weekend and we walked into what i can best describe as an absolute winter wonderland! This trip had been planned for a long time, and i was originally planning to go to austria instead of amsterdam for fall break, but it worked out that i went twice and it was really nice to see the beautiful city again! We did so many things including going to the van gogh musuem, taking a walk through vondel park, admiring all the christmas lights and seeing the first snow fall! It was extremelyyyyyyyyyy frigid cold but we definitly enjoyed it and kept bundled up the whole time!

dam square

ledsplein square all light up!

one of their many gorgeous canals (i like how the light hit the bike tires!)

so many lights :)

poinsettia dress 

bagels and beans for the most delicious breakfast 

the first mall we've been in for months! loook at that huge tree!

the park near the museums

the view from the top floor of the van gogh museum

winter wonderland!

the van gogh museum

hahaha in the vending machine at the hostel, cool american because they have no idea what ranch dressing is in europe!

thanksgiving :)

I'm missing everyone from back home pretty bad with thanksgiving right around the corner. All my american roommates were pretty homesick too, so we cooked a traditional thanksgiving dinner (extremely well for being first timers) and shared an american holiday with our Dutch roommates. They lovedddd it. And of course we all stuffed ourselves like crazy. Unfortunately we couldn't find a turkey so we had chicken, but we did have mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, stuffing (i made it, soooo good), biscuits, corn pudding, green beans, brussels sprouts, salad, parmesan bread, apple pie, banana bread and gelato. can you say delicious??