Vienna, Austria

After an interesting overnight train experience, we arrived in Vienna, Austria! Austria was very different than France. It didnt feel as European, no stone buildings, didnt feel as old. The buildings were more modern, with different shaped roofs, but everything was green and beautiful! The landscapes that we passed were amazing, rivers, lakes, and snow covered mountains. When we got there we found our hotel, then decided to just walk around and check things out...Because Lara loves horses and grew up doing dressage, a form of horseback riding where the horse almost dances, we went to the Spanish Riding School in Vienna. These horses were of Royal descent and it was pretty awesome to watch them as they practiced their moves. After some exploring, we went to Rick Steve's suggested cafe, which happened to be cute cafe filled with locals, and no hints of english. We ordered our kaffes and an omlette, since we knew that wouldnt have liver in it, or we hoped.After our meal it was time to go back to our hotel to meet Laras mom. Unfortunately, she never made her flight, so instead we got a phone call from Singapore and decided we would meet her mom in Salzburg the next day. We then went out to explore again, and enjoyed the Christmas decorations and markets all around Vienna, which by the way is the home of Mozart and other composers.Vienna was fun, except for when the ATM sucked up my debit card (because Bank of America decided that I was out of the country too long and thought they would cancel all of my cards, thanks for not paying attention to the dates I said I would be in Europe... I'm bitter) And I also felt way out of my element not knowing German. Its not like the other countries where you could at least guess what signs meant or figure out some words, I mean, just look at what this building said...

Venice, Italy

I loved Venice. I love that there are no cars because it is a maze of canals and bridges. I love that everything is transported by water. I love that there are islands where they blow glass and make lace. I even love that trash trucks cant get around the islands so they hang their trash on hooks, who knows what they do from there! But I just thought it was lovely, and filled with lovely colors, lovely sounds, and lovely food. We didnt go on a romantic gondola ride, but there were lots of Italian men ready to take you!There were markets on different streets as we wandered. I loved the colors.I couldnt get enough of the buildings with their little gardens and shutters, plus it looked like they were growing right out of the water.
The colors were amazing!! There isnt one picture from Europe that I have edited, they are straight off my camera, because they are so beautiful the way they are!!We heard about these two islands, Murano and Burano, two islands where they blow glass and make lace, respectively. We spent too much time on Murano, the glass blowing island and never made it to Burano, but I'm sure it was amazing. I'll have to go back.We had our last Italian meal together as Lara and I would be continuing on to Austria and Switzerland and my mom and Jamie to Paris then the US, later that night. I wanted tiramisu and of course my mom said "It's her birthday!" so we got a huge piece to split for free. We devoured it in a minute.
Around the corner were these bricks, even the bricks were beautiful!
Once back to Venice we made our way to St Marks Plaza, then took a vaporetto down the Grand Canal back to our hotel.Venice was lovely, Italy was lovely, but after only three days (I cant believe we did all we did in three days), it was time for us to part. Lara and I had an overnight train to Vienna, and my mom and Jamie to Paris. Success.

Rome, Italy

We somehow did Rome in a day. It was an exhausting and amazing day. We started off by going to Vatican City. We just happened to be in Rome on a Wednesday, and the Pope just happens to speak to the public on Wednesdays. We first saw St Peters Basilica. Wow. It is amazing, there is no way you cannot be in awe of it when you enter.At 10:30 we started trying to figure out where the Pope was going to be. My mom scoped it out and somehow got us four tickets to go in the huge auditorium where the Pope was addressing the public. Although I am not all about the Pope, it was pretty cool that we got to see him, even if he was a tiny white dot among the thousands of people in there. Can you see him?Next was the Vatican museum and the maze of artwork leading up to the Cistine Chapel. Although it was not exactly what I was expecting (I was expecting a dome, and it was a rectangular room) it was still great. I snuck a picture, there is proof my mom was there...Next up was the Roman ruins. Even though I kept telling my mom not to pay attention to people selling things and begging, I somehow was fooled into having my mom get a picture with this guy in front of the Colosseum and for some reason didnt think he would ask for money. He did. He got me.
The Colosseum was amazing. I couldnt get over how big it was, much bigger than the arena in Nimes, and you could see the chambers that were once below the ground where the animals were kept before they were to be killed!We walked through Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum. It was crazy to see single columns standing, or even fallen over, and ruins that are thousands of years old among the city!We walked the Roman streets seeing sights along the way, and wound up at the Pantheon. Again, not what I was expecting, but impressive none the less.Our last sights for the day were the Spanish steps and the Trevi Fountain. It was crazy to turn the corner and see this larger than life fountain lit up as the sun was setting. There were tons of people around, but Lara and I threw our coin in the fountain to make our wish.Well, we did it, we did Rome in a day. It was off to Venice late that night!

Florence, Italy

We had a long day of traveling to get to Florence. We left Avignon at 4:45 am and arrived in Florence at 5:30 pm. We were welcomed into Italy with two 50 euro fines for not filling in our Eurail passes correctly (I had to tell my mom to stop and pay or she would get arrested), but we made it! We enjoyed a wonderful Italian meal, so yummy, and the food didnt stop coming. Afterwards we enjoyed gelato, and had my first birthday celebration at an Italian bar.
In the morning we started our day at the Pharmacia, a suggestion from my professor Pam, where we smelled beautiful perfumes and I found this lovely print.We were amazed to turn the corner and see amazing buildings and churches, especially the ginormous Duomo and the golden doors of the Baptistry.
We spent some of our afternoon at an outdoor market filled with leather goods on every stand.For lunch I had Italian pizza, different but very good!We opted out to see the fake David, where it used to be located before moving into a building that you need to pay 10 euro to get inside. It was still impressive.We ended the night by climbing up a path to see the sun set over Florence. After a long and wonderful day, we were back on the train and on to Rome!

Vernissage: Before & After

I have been slacking. Home has preoccupied me and also worn me out. But I promise to be better! I have tons of things to update on... starting with Vernissage and my travels after Lacoste, and then what is happening at home. Here we go...

Vernissage was our student exhibition of all of the work that was made while in Lacoste. We put it together ourselves and although the wind kept many people from coming, it was still a great event and lots of fun. It was amazing to see how we changed our work studios into galleries, and here are some before and after pictures of some of the amazing fibers work.

Kara and Janelle: Before

Kara and Janelle: After

Megan: Before

Megan: After

Lexi and Caitlin: Before

Lexi and Caitlin: After

What I miss most about Europe is this view... so so much.
The same day of Vernissage my mom and Jamie came to join us. Saturday morning we went for a walk to Bonnieux. It was a beautiful and windy day.
Sunday morning Lara and I said goodbye to hidden valley ranch, and we headed to Avignon for the night where we would catch a 4:45 am train to Florence Monday morning.

21 years ago...

Today was my 21st birthday. I have celebrated it 3 times prior to this day, so it was only fair that today was a chill day. I started my internship at Printfresh yesterday, so today was day #2. I am really enjoying it and learning a lot in a short amount of time. I get to screenprint and archive vintage fabric and do whatever needs to be done. Since I just met everyone yesterday, I didnt want to come in and be like "hey! its my birthday!", but they figured it out, probably because I wrote it on a form, and they had cupcakes for me! It was really sweet of them.

Then after work I went to dinner with my aunt, uncle, and cousin Anthony. I ordered my first legal drink and avoided the obnoxious singing at Texas Roadhouse, I wasnt about to get on a horse and have them scream my name to the whole restaurant. All in all it was a good day, thanks for all the birthday wishes! (Travel updates will happen soon!)