Probably packed the most in to today that anyone ever could.

Wandered through a cave filled with stalactites
Found ourselves climbing the Cliffs of Moher
Ended up on castle grounds
Which lead to bike riding through forests
Golfing on hundreds of acres of greenery
And after all that now there is a much needed hot tub session
Only to follow with a few nightcaps and movie of course

I am going to sleep like a baby tonight.

In need of a Giants game very very soon. I miss me some orange and black. Obviously that includes Halloween too.

Travel Tips from Ireland

Apparently Greek women are not the only ones to have hair grow on their face... Saw this old woman yesterday with free flowing white hairs all over her face.. Awk. I advise to stay away.

I cannot understand anyone here so basically all I do is just nod and smile when anyone says anything to me.. It seems to work pretty well.

Do not pee next to an Irish church.. I have a feeling I might not be going to heaven...

Do go Irish dancing! If an old woman asks you to be her partner then go for it.. It will be the highlight of your night running around with a bunch of old people.

Driving on the left side of the ride is scary and navigating is even worse. If you get scared easily then just don't come here plain and simple.

Saw Obama speak in Dublin today. Since both our roots trace back to Ireland, he basically said we are related. Awesome.

Also saw a girl get attacked by a pigeon today (obviously) and she looked back at it as if she wanted to yell at it.. Clearly she didn't think this through since birds don't talk and they can also fly.. So better luck next time.

Drank tons of cider today. My favorite! The only straight alcohol that actually tastes good.

Did a crossword puzzle titled "Los Angeles" and one of the words I had to find was earthquake.. Definitely kid friendly...

Divorce?

So it isn't new news that my parents are getting divorced after what 30 years of marriage? Shoot I really hope that time wasn't wasted. Anyways my parents both think they will "come back together" later in life and get married the right way this time. According to my father this would be in a Catholic church instead of a Greek church like the first time around. This I thought was good insight since it is clearly not normal to walk around the altar ten times at your wedding... No wonder my mom wasn't happy.

Travel Tips for Greece

1. No one speaks English. Taxi men will literally drive away from you if they realize you don't speak Greek, so try and act like you know what you're doing.

2. If a taxi driver says, "I am not a killer," do not assume they are actually going to murder you. According to my Greek father they have a different kind of humor and watch too many horror movies leading them to make jokes that make them sound like psycho killers.

3. If you are on an island and order fish, be aware they will have lots of bones in them. Do not eat. They will kill you, not the taxi driver.

Sheesh I am just blogging away tonight..

Question: Boob jobs.. Friend or foe?

I have asked myself this question for a long time. In the case of Heidi Montag or whatever her name is, definitely a major foe. She had the perfect little petite body before, but after... YIKES. Don't want to be the person that pops those puppies. On the other hand Kate Hudson might have been justified when she got a baby bit done to her not so noticeable nonexistent boobs. Now her boobs are her friends because you can actually tell they are there. This does in face give people like me less hope (people like me or should I say women because guys don't have boobs, unless you count man boobs, which is just wrong). Kate Hudson was such a role model because she rocked her flatness and for many years I have to, but part of this was shot to hell well Kate when ahead and said to the whole world, "Hey it's so not okay to be flat, hence my recent adjustment." And I for example am very flat.. Not like "omg you guys my boobs totally don't fill this bra" flat, more like "I don't need to wear real bras and I can just get away with cute lacy sport bras" flat. See the difference? Excellent. Now back to whether I should reintroduce the idea of getting a little adjustment in my own life...

Answer: Nah, I could never get a boob job at the risk of them flailing up and down when I run because that just looks silly.

If I fancy myself a comedian, does that mean I get to be self absorbed? Because all I seem to talk about lately is myself. Of course this makes sense from a comedic standpoint because my comedy comes from my life, my opinions, and my genius. All of which are completely hilarious. So doesn't this then give me more a right to talk about myself? I think so. I guess maybe sometimes I should let other people talk to, but only when given permission by me of course otherwise punishment is necessary.

Going to the Greek Islands tomorrow.. Should be quite the journey considering I speak a minimal amount of Greek and we have to travel by car and boat and talk to numerous Greeks along the way. I know from experience when a Greek is not happy, you should stay out of their away and away from their fish. That stuff is sacred to them, especially the eyeballs. Speaking of maybe I will catch a fish with my bare hands like the Greeks do, wait actually I am Greek so like I do and then continue to eat the eyeballs. Such a delicacy here in Greece. Yum.

SLUT

The different classifications of being a slut...

Here they are in no particular order:

Lesbian slut (perhaps the best kind because it avoids the possibility of pregnancy)

Controlled slut (one of the better ones considering your sluttiness is kept to a minimum)

Slut slut (the worst kind because you can become slutty at any moment and we all know how badly that could turn out)

Non-slut (I mean basically you just aren't)

Wannabe slut (You try, but really just are not up to the challenge)

Out of the closet slut (you know you are and are proud of it)

Undercover slut (the ones that try to keep how many guys they sleep with a secret, but secretly everyone knows)

Extreme slut (this is just out of line.. No one should ever get to the extreme level of anything)

Professional slut (someone that needs to get paid to have sex... enough said)

So all in all am I trying to say being a slut is a good or a bad thing? ... You know I couldn't really tell you. I guess you are just going to have to decide for yourself.

Bought leather sandals today! And allergy medicine.. Both excellent purchases.

Other than that we walked around Athens for hours. We saw every inch of Plaka (a huge flea market with tons of specialty shops and just cute trinket stores in general). We saw the Parliament building with the changing of the guards in front. Its not typically what you would see in London, its better. The guards in Greece where these shoes with huge balls on top of them that bob up and down as they do their incredibly straight sturdy march from post to post. We also saw Monastiraki square with amazing vibrant fruit stands, fresh grilled corn, among other delicacies known to Athens.

A very successful day if I do say so myself! The heat was marvelous and of course I got more color, which is always a plus.

On to the ruins tomorrow!

Going in to the city today!
Things on the list of things to do:
Changing of the guards
Plaka
Monastiraki
Central Market
Loukoumades
Shopping
Starbucks

Tanning practically naked on the rooftop of my apartment is obviously the first thing to do when in Greece... Good thing I bought a thong bikini! Already got some tan lines...

In Greece!!!! Feels so good to be back in my grandparents apartment. I feel so at home! Back with my people obvi. Just chatted with my next door neighbor who speaks zero English.. We had an amazing conversation obviously. More stories to come later! Off to the grocery store for RICE PUDDING!!!!

Just hung out with Jersey Shore.. Well not really, but close enough. Kelsey and I were peacefully sitting in front of Piazza Duomo on our last night in Florence.. Well not peacefully because I was having a meltdown but that is besides the point. Anyways this HUGE crowd comes walking towards us and we were like is this a riot? Are we about to get shot? There were huge screens, which actually ended up being lights and low and behold the cast of the Jersey Shore was in the middle of this huge mob of people. Of course I immediately get up to see just for funsies (not that I like or even watch the show that often) and Kelsey stays put wanting absolutely nothing to do with them. They keep walking so I force Kelsey off her butt so we can follow them. We are walking literally two feet away, but they are all huddled in a group not even talking to each other. Its like they were only posing for the camera. Then we go in to Piazza Repubblica and they decide to rude to carousel. Kelsey and I get front row seats on a bench and watch them ride it.

The situation (whatever his name is) is "reading" a tourist book on Florence and sitting in one of those seats, while everyone else is on a horse. The beefy guy rides it backwards (I don't know his name), Snooki is tiny on the big horse and is wearing fur boots, the other tiny is just awk and fugs, the one that is dating the beefy guy is literally posing and looking like an idiot the whole time, and I forget if there is anyone else...

Anyways it was a pretty epic thing to happen before we leave Florence... I mean its always nice watching people fuck up more than I do. Excellent.

Allergies really upset me.

Sneezing and blowing my nose every five seconds is really getting old. How much snot can I really have in my nose? I mean REALLY.

Oh and also Kelsey is going to kill me.

So now its just awkward.

The sale is going on right now!!! Wish I had time to go and shop their summer collection...

I have said it before and I will say it again. LF is the first store I am stepping in to when I get back to the states. Looking on their website is simply not enough! Mainly because they don't show individual items and of course prices of things, which is really quite upsetting. Apparently the new trend these days is cageback, which obviously I die for since I love anything that includes showing your back. It's just so sexy.

The one on the right is a cageback dress (buying it obviously) and the shorts on the left are also a must since white lacey things are also a favorite and in for the summertime.

Okay life is super confusing these days because every time I think of something genius to say (it happens often obviously) I never know if I should make it my Facebook status, post it on my Twitter (a new obsession, I caved), blog about it, or write it in my diary..

Lets break it down:
Diary is out of the question because only I will know, that is until the historians find my diary and put it in a famous museum.
Facebook status gets old and lets be real its so lame to update your status more than like... 4 times a day?
Blogging is great, but I currently only have four followers so only my besties would see it and of course they already know what a genius I am.
So I guess that leaves Twitter.. this weird thing that I was against for so long. I think it is safe to say that its my best option these days.

The real question is what is the world coming to these days? Now people no longer talk in person, they simply spread their thoughts and ideas on the internet. My dad says that having so much about my life on internet will come back and bite me in the ass. I guess I will actually start having to talk to real people. Ew.

Why does this semester have to end?????? Can time please stop?!!! I mean I guess I would rather have time stop a couple weeks ago so I wasn't stuck in the whole final tests, papers, and presentations mode. But maybe that is asking for too much. Whatever you can give me will suffice. Thanks.... God? I'm assuming that's who I am talking to..... Let me know when you are going to officially stop time so I can look super good.

I think it is safe to say I am in major denial about leaving Florence... or just insane? Either works for me.

Just cried walking down Via dei Calzaiuoli. I guess it didn't help that I was listening to Blackbird, Glee rendition of course. This street is my absolute favorite because it leads me to absolutely everything I could ever want in Florence. You can walk straight down and hit Palazzo Vecchio and the Ponte Vecchio which means shopping along the way and amazing gelato over the bridge. It also takes you to Piazza Repubblica, my favorite place in Florence to people watch, read, or just bask in the sun. And of course it runs right next to the Duomo, which is the most magnificent piece of architecture in all of Florence. As it happens it is also my next door neighbor. Could I ask for anything more?

The Duomo at sunrise. Epically beautiful.

Becky is a jump rope prodigy.
(She jump roped with Parisians in front of the Eiffel Tower)

And I can hold the Eiffel Tower in between my fingers.

We are cool, it's not a big deal.

Final today. Haven't studied yet. I think bed instead? Ooh I rhymed!

Just thinkin about this past semester, which has been beyond amazing.

And obviously I know what you are thinking: "Stephanie could you please sum up your time in Italy into three words?"

Why yes, I would love to! Couldn't have asked it better myself.

Here I go... Sleep (necessary to live) Eat (again necessary to live) and Rage (just plain necessary)

Kelsey and I are afraid that we are tools, but you know I'm cool with it.

The memories and friends I have made here are for a lifetime.. Well I guess the friends were already a given since I came with them.

Minus all my besties from Mexicooo! They are amaze balls. Spring break 2012 here we come!!! :)

New favorite word:
Satiate.
What a dirty sounding word.
Say it out loud right now in a slight whisper and lisp the "s".
Don't tell me that didn't feel good.
I love it.

Packing now...

DON'T WANT TO LEAVE.

State of the Union

In...
*Chris Brown
*Dance floor hookups
*Red lipstick
*Flats
*Fighting Albanians
*Hurting your ankle

Out...
Usher
Bedroom sleepovers
Light shades
Heels
Backing down like little girls
Hurting your ankle

I cannot imagine not living the life I am living here in Florence. I have gotten so use to it and I don't want to live any other way. Of course I miss San Francisco and Orange, my other two lives. But this third life surpasses anything that I thought was amazing before.

Kelsey and I went out last night and had an amazing night per usual, but the best part was watching the sun rise of the Duomo at 6am. Truly magical.

Today all we have done is tanned on our balcony, read, and listened to music and I like it that way, with ancient tower houses surrounding us and the bell tower to our right.

It's a little something I like to call pure bliss.

About to eat at Obika with Katherine.... fresh mozzarella made right in front of you! Basically my heaven.

Albanians

My grandma told me to stay away from the Albanians before I left for Italy. But what if they won't stay away from me?

So tonight was the scariest night of my life. I saw my life flash before my eyes. Kels, Linds, and I were walking home from a club and these guys were yelling at us. They were saying "english?" "hello?" and trying to get our attention. I was in heels of course so walking slower than Kels and Linds. The one guy gets up right next to me and asks "english?" again. I say, "yes, I don't know you." Then they are all up in our grill so we cross the street and they follow us. The same guy gets super close to me and grabs my bag. The second this happens my instinct was to pull back (exactly the opposite of what they told us to do in orientation). I get my bag back and Kelsey pushed his super hard. Then we cross the street again because we were so freaked out, they follow us and are taunting us as we walk. I was struggling to keep up and then Kelsey yelled at me to take off my shoes. Now they were directly behind me laughing. Perfect. We hurry ahead and one of then comes up and puts his hand up Lindsay's skirt. By this point I literally think we are going to die. My heart is racing a mile a minute and we are all walking so fast so close to each other. I thought we should call the police, but lets be real they wouldn't have done anything for us anyways. They keep following and we were yelling "fuck off" and "get away" etc. I think this was a good thing because eventually they stopped following. They messed with the wrong girls that's for sure. Never thought anything like that would ever happen to me. So glad we are safe and alive. Obviously learned a lot of thing to never do again..
Never wearing heels again
Never walking home from a club that's far away
Never provoke Albanians
And always listen to my grandma

I wish it was nice out! Alls I wanted to do was read my book in the piazza. But then the sun had to go away and it had to get super windy. Perfect for my flowy ballerina dress of course. Now I am sitting in my room feeling like shit. The coffee from Astor I am assuming and I feel bad that I am about to watch Greys during my last week here. I guess its better than being out wandering by myself. Who knows what kind of trouble I would get in to. I also should get better so I can rage tonight. I will attempt to go out for the next eight days straight. Do you think I can do it? I actually know I can't. I would die, but we will make that our goal and see how far I get.

State of the Union
In...
My big leather purse
Day dreaming about boys
Mozzarella baby
Rage

Out...
Small baby clutches
Daydreaming about food
Real baby
Staying in

Its 4am. Way past my bedtime. I spent the evening catching up with old friends. I wont mention their names because currently they haven't shown they are worthy of being "spotted" in my blog if you catch my drift. Who knew after so many years it would be like time had never passed just laughing at old times. Or maybe they were just being nice, but really thought I was creepy for remembering all the weird stories that no one remembers? Either way I'm feeling great right now. Unfortunately this can change at any moment. I hope I can make it to Astor tomorrow without crying outside the Duomo... Oh boy sometimes I embarrass myself. That shouldn't happen.

I am holding my blackberry right now... It is really heavy. So strange but so right. Currently trying to charge it. I can't tell whether it is alive or dead.

I am so looking forward to the literal thousands of emails I am going to have. Not.

To be continued...

So almost had a breakdown walking past the Duomo today with my iced mocha from Astor in hand just thinking that in ten days I won't be able to walk past the Duomo that I have walked by multiple times a day the past four months. I mean maybe in the future when I come back and visit I will walk by it, but not like I have been. I will not be walking to my apartment where I live, which is so depressing. I was excited to go home a couple weeks ago, but now I really do not want to leave. I love it here so much and I will miss so many things. Lets make a list shall we? So I can get even more depressed.

Runs to Cascine Park and Michelangelo
The cereal
Going to Astor and getting bad coffee
Walking past the Duomo
Seeing David in all of his sexiness
Sunsets at Michelangelo
Random history lessons
Raging all day everyday
Then having the worst hangover the next day
VIP everywhere we go
Learning everything there is to know about Florence in Architecture
My best friends from Mexico :)
Being able to see Katherine whenever I want
Mozzarella literally all day long
Amazing food even from the grocery store
Fresh bread everyday
Walking around aimlessly and getting lost until I see the Duomo in sight
Tanning on the balcony
Being the only girls out and showing our legs (not always a good thing) as well as being constantly gawked at by guys (again not always a good thing) yet I still feel like I will miss it
Buying way too much makeup at Kiko
Going in to every single museum, church, and palace in Florence
Sitting along the Ponte Vecchio
Watching the sun rise at the Ponte Vecchio
Staying out until 6am far too many times
Lasagna at Pa's
Being my own best friend and learning a lot about myself
Learning how to cook
Staring out my window and seeing the Bell Tower

Stay tuned for more.. these are ONLY a few of what will be missed in this amazing place.
Thank you Florence, you have given me so much more than I could have ever known.