My yummy pizza and wine

Look what I found!

A day in the wine country

Today, Saturday, we took our first USAC group field trip. We took a bus out to visit and tour an old castle where they make wine out in the country side. It was such a beautiful place. Everywhere I looked was luscious green fields of grape vines. We got to take a tour of the castle and see the inside and learn how they made the wine in the old days. The castle is also famous for its truffle mushrooms. They have auctions for the truffles to places from all over the world and sell them for thousands of dollars! After our tour of that, we were brought to a local family’s vineyard. When we got there we sat down at some tables, and got to try their home made cheeses, bottled appetizers, wines, breads, pasta, and cookies. It was amazing! There were 5 different wines to sample that went with everything we ate. After we stuffed ourselves with home grown food, we had a look around and were able to buy the produce at their little store in their house. I personally bought the cheese we had and some chocolate truffles. It was a very fun day, and it was good to get to visit a place and learn the history behind it all. Here are some pictures of what has been going on. Enjoy :)  

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Nice, France

During my 2 days off my roommates and I took a train trip to the coast of France. We went to a city called Nice, pronounced Niece. We thought that it was only going to take about 4 hours, but to our surprise it took about 6 hours to get there. We arrived around 8 pm on Tuesday, checked into our hostel and went to check out the city. It was perfect timing because the sun was setting and we walked down to the ocean and had the perfect sunset for pictures. After walking around and taking as many photos as we could, we decided to eat. It was a bit hard for us to order in France because none of us spoke a bit of French. See in Italy it is easy for us to order because Brittagana speaks Italian pretty well. So after trying to figure out what we wanted we finally ordered, and celebrated with a nice glass of French champagne! After dinner we walked around a bit and absorbed the French culture. Then we headed back to the hostel which we were pleased to find that no one else had checked into our room so we got it all to ourselves. When we woke up on Wednesday, we got ready and headed back down to the beach. We got to lay in the sun and play in the water for a few hours which was amazing! I had to remember that I was in Europe because there was A LOT of topless ladies there! After our fun on the beach, we had something to eat walked around a bit more, then around 5 pm we had to leave. The trip home took a little bit longer and we finally made it home around midnight. It was a very short, but definitely worthwhile trip. Here are some pictures of my adventure! Enjoy :)

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A little about Torino

Okay so after being in Torino for about a week now there are a few things that I have discovered about Italy. First of all, if you are walking down the sidewalk, LOOK OUT FOR POOP! They do not pick up their dog’s poop, so it is everywhere! Also, dogs are allowed pretty much everywhere. I have seen them in restaurants, grocery stores, cafes, trains, and the bus. Another thing to know if you ever make your way here, always wear some type of shoes. Even when your in your apartment/hotel the grounds are not very clean. Another interesting fact about Italy is most shops will close in the middle of the day for about 2 hours. This is their time to eat lunch and be with their families. Also in Italy you do not tip. There is always tip/tax included in the price so what you see is what you get. It makes things very easy when it comes to paying because you always know what the total cost of something will be. That’s just a little about Italy and some of their culture.

Day off of school

Today, Tuesday, I had the day off of school and tomorrow is an Italian national holiday so we have the day off again, so my roommates and I are going to take a trip out of the country. We are thinking about heading to Nice, France for the night. We will be heading off to the train station shortly. It should be a fun time. I will write and post pictures about my trip when I get back! Ciao!

Day in Aosta

Sunday, my roommates and I decided to take a day trip to anywhere that was close by. We got to the train station around 7:30 am and found a train going to Aosta at 8:30, so we decided to be spontaneous and check it out. It was about a 2 hour train ride, and we arrived around 11. When we got there, we were not prepared for the weather. It was rainy and cold and we were wearing capris, sandals, and a thin sweater. Even though the weather wasn’t that great we made the best of the day. We walked all around the cute town and got to soak in the French/Italian culture. Aosta is right on the boarder of Italy, France, and Switzerland surrounded by beautiful mountains. It was a very fun little day trip and would be an amazing place to visit during the winter to ride the mountains. Here are some pictures of my day, enjoy! :)

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