Floriole Cafe & Bakery

"The cutest darn bakery"

About a week ago I went to Floriole Cafe and Bakery, and absolutely loved the place! I went with the family I nanny, who suggested we go there for breakfast.

They have a great selection of various pastries, scones, breads, coffees, sandwiches, and salads. I opted on getting the rhubarb oatmeal, because I am just such a sucker for rhubarb. The food was really delicious and you could tell that everything was made fresh that morning.

Floriole has a great ambiance as well! The whole inside is brick walls, wood tables, and high ceilings. I recommend sitting upstairs, as it just has a light and airy feel to it. Floriole would be a great place to go to study for class or just get work done in general. You'd be able to grab a great cup of coffee and a sweet treat AND you wouldn't leave smelling of burnt coffee like when you get work done at other places (ahm Starbucks....)

Also what is awesome about Floriole is that every Friday night they have pizza nights! They cook brick stone pizzas and serve up wine. Mmmm sounds like a good Friday to me!

Check this place out and let me know what you think!

--Until next time

Urban Eats

"Blue Door Farm Stand"

Hello all! I've been on a hiatus recently with blogging, as school has some whole consumed my life lately. Anyways now that spring/summer is finally starting in Chicago I have been checking out a lot of cool food places. Not sure why I've all of a sudden that it's nice out been going to new food places, but the nice weather makes me feel like exploring more of the city. 

This past week I went out to lunch with a really good friend of mine, Emily. We wanted to go somewhere that neither of us have ever been to and Emily suggested Blue Door Farm Stand, and I was totally down! I had never heard of the restaurant but was more than willing to go and check it out. 

Blue Door Farm Stand is right off of the Armitage brown line stop. I was taken aback upon first getting to the restaurant. I figured it would be like a typical Lincoln Park lunch/brunch spot. It was way cooler than the typical Lincoln Park restaurant that I have gotten so comfortable with going to. The atmosphere was so great with wood table, mason jar lights, and high ceilings. It overall provided an airy and friendly environment to add to the overall enjoyment of my meal. 

Blue Door Farm Stand has an awesome selection of yummy salads, sandwiches, baked goods, coffees, and drinks. Everything just sounded so fresh and straight from the farm (which I'm assuming is the point of "Farm Stand"). I ordered the Sesame Chicken Salad and loved it!! Mmmm so yummy with so many good vegetables and a subtle dressing, which is always a plus for me since I hate when my salads are drenched in dressing! My friend opted on getting the Kale & Citrus salad, which looked amazing! I was almost a little envious of her salad, because it looked so good to!! 

My Salad!!!

I was so happy we went to this place and recommend it to anyone in the area wanting to try something new and have an amazingly fresh meal!!

Until next time!! 

Pop's for Champagne

"A little bubbly never hurt nobody"

Everyone's favorite classy cocktail is of course Champagne, or wait maybe that's just mine?! Regardless of whether you like champagne or not it's always fun to get dressed up and go out with your best girlfriends for a night! That is exactly what I did this weekend with my best girlies! 

It has been a while since I've gotten together with my best girlies, because Kelsey and Corie are not currently living in the city at the moment. This has been miserable for myself, seeing as I cannot go see them at any given whim. As I mentioned in one of my first blog post (http://foodcitylife.blogspot.com/2013/06/this-little-thing-called-change-change.html) my best friends graduated in June and it's been different since. 

This weekend though we all planned a night out and decided on going to Pop's for Champagne! I've wanted to go to Pop's for a really long time and was super excited about our choice! My parents used to go there all the time when they once lived in the city; they were always telling me to check it out. So we got all dressed up and had a classy night. 

It was a great time with great friends and pretty great drinks! Nothing screams girls night more than champagne in my opinion. It was so great catching up with Corie, Kelsey, and Paulina!! I know they will all be back in the city soon, but until then we will just have to keep planning on getting together everyone now and again! 

I recommend the Black 75 if you want a really tasty cocktail drink (so good!!)! 

--Until next time!

Eataly!

"Maybe better than heaven?!"

This past Saturday I went Eataly in downtown River North. I went with my friends Paulina and Paul (also they are dating and yes I am serious about their names)! I was a bit confused at first when Paulina asked me to go to Eataly, but once I Googled it I was super excited.

Eataly is a giant Market Place, filled with different produce sections and sections to order food. It was so crazy cool!! We started our Eataly experience by grabbing a glass of wine at the wine bar on the second floor. Paul and I tried the Gia Bianco, which I highly recommend. 

With wine in hand, we started exploring the different sections of the place. We put our names in for the Pizza and Pasta section, and then continued to walk around. There were different counters where you could buy cheese, lunch meats, olive oil, handmade pasta, fish, wine, beer, pretty much all of my favorite things!! 

As we waited for our table to be ready at the Pizza and Pasta section, Paul wanted to try the meat counter and ordered a Beef Tartar that was served with Foccacia bread. I had never tried tartar before, mostly because raw meat grosses me out, but I Paul let me taste a little of it and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised! It was pretty damn good! 

We went back to the wine bar to get a refill, this time I opted for the Prosecco :). We headed over to our table and proceed to order our food. We sat at the counter and it was pretty cool to watch the chef's prepare our food. I got a pizza with spicy salmini and Paulina got a calamari pasta dish. Oh my God the food was sooo yummy!! 

I for sure want to come back to Eataly and check out the other sections of the Market Place. We were so stuffed from dinner we didn't even check out the desserts downstairs. Which is a definite must, because they have a Nutella Bar (even though I'm not a fan, it would still be cool)!

--Until next time!

When friends get together

"Reunited and it feels soo good"

It's been a while now since I've been home and am now officially in the swing of classes and work. One of the greatest things about coming back to Chicago from studying in Budapest, is that a lot of my friends on the trip go to DePaul as well!! It has really been nice to see everyone around, instead of not knowing the next time I'll see anyone.

With that being said there have been several mini "reunions" of all of us in the city. Steve threw a big get together one of the first weeks back from break and a bunch of us showed up!! It was a lot of fun, partially because the family I babysat for in the burbs drove me back into the city so I wouldn't miss the party. Actually I feel like a bunch of us have been making a really big effort to get together at a bar, dinner, or having parties a lot lately. I think we are all having study abroad withdrawals and I'm really glad we got so close that we still want to hangout with each other in Chicago! 

I know as the months go on all of us are going to get busier and busier and not be able to get together as often as we have been. It makes me sad still that we aren't all living in the same building together, but I also see so many of us so often that it's really not that big of a deal. All of us got so close and I can see us all staying really close friends. 

I need to get my butt out to Boston soon to visit Alison, Radhika, and Haasan! Gahhh I miss the Bentley crew so much, maybe in the spring I'll be able to make it out there! And just a side note: thank god I live with Therese and Eva and Claudia is literally down the block from us!! Ohmygawd I don't know what I would do if I wasn't in this living situation!

--Until next time

Blaze Pizza

"Basically the Subway of pizza's"

I feel like I haven't had a post about food in a really really long time. So onto my favorite subject: food!! 

Blaze Pizza just open off the Belmont red line stop in Lincoln Park area and conveniently enough it is super close to my new apartment!! There are actually a lot of cool food places around my new apartment that I am super stoked to go and check out! 

I have been describing Blaze to friends as the "Subway" of pizza places. Pretty much you have two options: pick from select pizza's on the menu or build your own pizza. Everything is fresh and the pizza's are thrown in the brick-oven right before being served to you. 

I went with Rachel and Christine on a random Friday night to check it out. I ordered the BBQ Chicken pizza and was super satisfied (reminded me of Pizzette in Budapest)! The pizza was delicious and we were served very fast, for pizza! 

This will definitely be a place I will be returning to in the future! If you're in the neighborhood you should def go and check it out! 

--Until next time!

The perks of being a nanny

"My job is pretending to be a mom" 

Over the summer I decided to quit my remedial office job and nanny. I've been babysitting/nannying for families since I was 13 years old, so I figured why not get one last "real" summer. 

Since coming back from Budapest I have been nannying for Nolan and Harrison. It was really nice to be able to come home to a job right away and I love this family so much that it isn't even really work. 

But onto why being a nanny has so many perks!! Like I just mentioned the family I watch for is super awesome! I have been watching for this family since I was a freshmen at DePaul and have really gotten to know them. When I was in Budapest I missed this family so much, this is also probably the reason everyone thought I was a mom cuz I just couldn't stop talking about my little nugget!! 

Thank god nannying isn't always like this

Anyways getting off topic here, perks: the mom picking me up coffee from Starbucks before she leaves in the morning

The humor that comes with watching a 6 month old and almost 3 year old (never a dull moment).

Getting picked up when it is -10 degrees out and snowing. 

Going on Starbucks dates with babies and the stares I get from all the people there (really people, you think I'm their mom?!)

Getting about an 1-2 hour break each day for "nap time"

The ease back to a daily routine. 

I didn't want to come home and go straight for a new internship, because I didn't want to become too overwhelmed. For now nannying is the perfect part-time job and I'm enjoying the company that comes with hanging out with kids all day. I mean if you think about it I get to pretend to be a mom for a few hours a day and then go home and hangout with friends (not like I want to be a mom anytime soon).  

--Until next time!! 

Adjusting

"How I've readjusted to America"

As I mentioned in a my previous post about Coming Home, it is going to take me awhile to re-adjust to being in the States. There are obviously a bunch of perks about coming home that come all at once; as in seeing my family and friends again, getting to eat Portillo's, and being able to speak the language. But than there a certain things that are harder to re-adjust to from being away for four months. 

It's such a crazy few weeks that I have at home before DePaul classes start up again. Therese, Eva, and I luckily (thanks to Eva) found an amazing apartment. Coincidentally we live four houses down from Claudia and around the corner from Steve, literally could not have planned that better!! As exciting as it is to move into a new apartment, it is also very stressful. Packing up and moving all my stuff from home, surviving Chicago's Polarvortex, and starting new classes has been exhausting. 

In the mean time, when I'm not super busy, I find myself thinking about study abroad all the time. 

I miss having all my friends live down the hall from me, being able to travel anywhere on a given weekend, not knowing where I'm going or what's going on around me. 

I miss the pastry shops and Spar being down the block. I miss cooking a shitty dinner in a shit kitchen with my best friends. 

I miss not having any responsibilities besides figuring out what hostel I should stay at on a trip. 

I miss the city of Budapest so much, the city that has become home to me and knowing that the next time I go there everything will be different. 

I go through these kinds of thoughts whenever my mind seems to drift off. Soon I'll get in the swing of things once work and school starts back up, but for now I'm starting to realize the true meaning of "reverse culture shock". 

-Until next time!!

New Year, New You

"Welcome to 2014"

A new year is upon us and everyone has probably been making New Year's Resolutions. Now I think New Year resolutions are great in idea, but (at least for me) don't always work out the way you expect them to. 

This New Year's I spent going to the Mid, in downtown Chicago to celebrate with my friends. It was kind of sort of suppose to be a belated birthday bash for me, seeing as I was in Italy on my actual bday and my friends still wanted to celebrate. Of course it decided to snow an inch an hour this year and getting into the city was miserable. We had to get ready super fast at Paulina's and rush to Mike's for the pre-game. 

The night was interesting and after a miserable New Year's day, it is time to think of a resolution. So (drum roll please) I've decided on the resolution of Focus. I know that seems like such a broad topic and you might not see it as a resolution, but for me it works perfectly. I am a Junior and will be graduating early next year, so I really need to start focusing on my life and where I would like it to go. I feel like I just spent the last four months discovering who I really am and what I truly want to accomplish in my life. With this whole new set of knowledge I really want to focus on my self and what I'm going to be doing after graduation and for years after.

Hope everyone had an amazing New Years and have come up with some pretty great resolutions of your own. I'll check in from time to time to let you know how the whole focusing thing is going. 

--Until next time!

Coming Home

"So bittersweet"

It has come the day to fly home to Chicago. I cannot tell you how bittersweet this feeling is to return home after being gone for so long. I am so unbelievable excited to see my family and friends but so sad to leave. 

Kathy, Jess, and I were on the same flight back and it was really nice to not be traveling alone. It really wasn't until landing back in Chicago that it really hit me that I will not be going back to Budapest. For some reason this freaked me out! I mean it's been four months of going one place to Budapest to another place, that I kind of forgot I will not be going back to Budapest. I guess I just didn't have enough time to really realize this. 

Upon my arrival in Chicago my parents welcomed me home with a large diet coke from McDonald's (umm day made). It was like I hadn't even left seeing them again! When I walked in the door to my house the Downing kids and Rachel had made me welcome home banners and a be-lated birthday cake! 

Later after going to Portillo's for dinner we came home and Rachel surprised me yet again with inviting all my friends over! I was so surprised I didn't even know how to respond. Honestly I was so happy to see everyone, but also felt as if I would burst into tears at any moment. It has been such a crazy 24 hours, and I am so exhausted. It feels so weird to be back and I know it's going to take some getting used to being back. I am so grateful to have such an amazing family and friends to welcome me home with such love. 

I will let you know how adjusting to America is, but in case you were wondering reversal culture shock is real and a serious bummer-- Until next time 

Last day's in Budapest

"Saying goodbye is stupid"

So it has come to the end of my semester abroad and I cannot believe that it has been four months since first arriving in Budapest. It honestly feels like yesterday I was going to Lake Balaton and getting to know everyone in the group. I am going to miss this city so much and all the people that I have gotten to know.  

 Honestly I feel like what I will miss the most is everyone being together and the traveling every weekend. The last few days in Budapest went out with a bang. Even though we were all busy with finals, once they were over everyone just cut lose and had a great last few days together. I even made it to the Budapest Opera House to see the Nutcracker! All of us are trying to pack in the last amount of sight seeing around the city that we can. We all went out to a big last dinner to Puder the night the first group of people were leaving for home. We all sat around and came up with different superlatives for one another and just reminiscence on the whole trip. 

 Alison and Radhika were in the first group to leave and I could not be more sad to say goodbye to the both of them. Over the past months I have gotten extremely close to the both of them and will miss them both dearly. Honestly watching them pack up their room and saying goodbye to them was extremely hard.

I stayed with these two while they packed up their room until they left for their flight at 3am. A few of us decided to walk to the Liberty Bridge for one last look at Budapest at night time. It was so peaceful and quite. The only thing that sucks more about saying goodbye is that since I'm in one of the last groups going home, I'll have to say goodbye two more days before going home myself. 

On my last day in Budapest a bunch of us, who were still around, decided to go see a few more places. It turned out to be a beautiful last day and we walked along the Danbue to the Shoe Memorial. We all just sat and looked out on Castle Hill; for me this will be a moment I don't think I will ever forget. We checked out the central market and St. Stephen's Christmas market one last time. For our last night out we all pre-gamed in Nick and Kane's room for the last time and went to this bar that was soo cool. The next day was spent packing and getting all of our stuff together for the flight. 

I am so sad to leave this amazing city that has taught me so much about myself and has been my home for the last four months. Looking back on the trip I realized how much stuff I've done and cannot even put into words how absolutely incredible this experience has been. I feel as if I'm ready to go home, but know that I will be coming back to Budapest in the future for sure--- Goodbye for now, Szia!

Finals week

"I really don't know what real school is"

See we do go to school

Oh finals week, the most dreaded week of all of studying abroad. For some reason the classes I am taking in Budapest are actually a lot of work!! I thought studying abroad was suppose to be easy, umm jokes. I mean I guess I travel the majority of my weeks and don't spend much time focusing on school. But, there's just so much to do and see in a short amount of time, so school kind of gets pushed to the back burners. 

Well anyways finals week in Budapest kicked my a**! I mean majorly! There was no way I was gonna let my grades slip while studying abroad, so I came up with a great study plan: Go to a coffee shop/cafe everyday, study as long as I am capable of, take a nap, and REPEAT! 

Claudia, Alison, and I pretty much lived at California Coffee Company for the entirety of finals week and let me tell you freaky things started happening. I even had to lock the door to our room one day, so I could study without being interrupted (people did not understand why the door was locked).

Now I should explain that finals and midterms never really stress me out that much at DePaul. It might be because I am actually focusing on my classes throughout the quarter at DePaul and learning things. But, here in Budapest it was like we didn't do anything in classes the whole semester and BAM take a 30% of your grade test on all this information that I "apparently" learned over the semester. 

Finals physically and mentally drained me. I mean I was having bizarre dreams, I slept walked in the dorms one night, and I even slept talked/yelled at Therese and Bani :/ I believe I am becoming delusional. But, I know that once finals are over it's a solid few days of just hanging out with everyone and enjoying the last days of being in Budapest. 

Wish me luck? Until next time--- Szia!!

Vienna daytrip

"Best study break ever!"

 Today marks the last trip I will take of all of study abroad. Claudia and I decided to take a day trip to Vienna, because we wanted to see the Christmas Markets and we didn't want to start studying for finals yet. So we got on a bus and arrived in Vienna. 

Now if I have not mentioned already, but I'm pretty sure I did, Claudia and I have gone on all our trips together expect for Barcelona. With that being said we travel super well together and kind of just do our own thing. We don't get too stressed if we don't see everything in the city we are going to, we just want to enjoy ourselves. And that is exactly what we did in Vienna!!

We got off the bus and started walking around the city. Now, Vienna is not very big at all and we decided to just ask a concierge at a hotel for directions. I go in and ask the man working at the front desk where the Christmas Market is by the Castle, my response "Umm do you know how many Castle's and Christmas Markets are in Vienna?" - yep thanks Fancy Pants... By the way no I did not know how many Castle's or Christmas Markets were in Vienna, but thanks for your help anyways Fancy Pants (Claudia and I got a big kick out of this). 

So we made our way along the ring of the city and found the main Christmas Market. It was decorated and all lit up. Claudia and I walked around the markets and got a cup of Hot Chocolate before deciding to head inside somewhere. Vienna is super cold in the winter people!! We took cover in a local Starbucks to figure out where to go to next and ran a girl sitting next to us told us a cool pub to check out. 

Claudia and I figured we pretty much walked around the entire city by now, seeing a ton of Castles and Christmas Markets... We decided we just wanted to get a beer and some pub food before heading back to Budapest for the night. For us getting a beer and some wings at a pub was the perfect way to de-stress before we had to start studying for finals! Vienna was the perfect study break, and after we were derping around the mall outside our bus pickup spot we made our way back to Budapest. 

Vienna was a good last day trip, but my god it was cold!! Still super casual to have a study break in Vienna for the day. When we got back everyone wanted to go out for the night and Claudia and I were just like -_-. Time to knuckle down and start studying for finals. Aghh but Until Next time--- Szia! 

Andiamo Italia!

"My bday weekend!"

 Ahh Italy, I have been dreaming of going here for many many years. I mean I even took 4 years of Italian in high school in order to go on the class trip, which I ended up not going on because I visited my sister in England woops. Anyways Therese, Radhika, Claudia and I headed off for our Italian adventure. Also just as an FYI this weekend was my birthday weekend!

First stop for the weekend was Milano!! Oh Milano, fashion capital I mean what else could a girl ask for?! We landed in Milan and headed straight to the Duomo to meet up with Alison's friend Christina. Stepping off the train, the first thing we all saw was the Duomo. Oh my god! I was completely blown away by how amazing the Duomo looked. I mean all of us just stopped talking and were in a state of awe. After basking in the sunlight and exploring the market by the Duomo we headed to an art museum. 

The museum was cool and kept us warm inside for a bit. We were pretty hungry before going into the museum and our attention spans started to go downhill. The best part of the museum was the interactive art pieces, like the one where it was a box with mirrors and lights (soo cool). After the museum we headed for food! Christina recommended for us to get this thing that is pretty much a deep fried calazone. Umm it was delicious!! So warm and ooy and gooy, seriously wish I would've gotten more than 1. 

 We met up with Christina and she showed us around the city. Since Claudia, Radhika, and I were only going to be in Milan for a day we had a lot of sight-seeing to pack in. First on our list was going inside of the Duomo, it was way cooler on the outside. Christina showed us around the glass shopping center with the original Prada flagstaff store, the main shopping district, and seeing Armani's home. Christina knew so much history about the city and the different designer stores we were passing by, it was like having our own personal travel guide. She also let us stay at her apartment for the night and took us out to dinner at our first antico restaurant. The deal with these restaurants is that you pay 6 euro for a drink and then get access to the buffet of food... Seriously why isn't America doing this?! It was an awesome day in Milan, wish I had actual money to shop here, but off to Firenze!!

Next on our weekend getaway, Florence. We took a train from Milan to Florence to meet up with Radhika's friend Emily. It worked pretty awesome for us this weekend, knowing so many people studying in Italy. Emily let us drop our bags off at her place and then took us around for the day. First we went to see the Duomo. Now this is THE actual Duomo, Duomo in Italian really just means cities central church. But the Duomo in Florence is the world famous one. 

 

Then we headed for lunch at All'antico for the best 5 euro sandwich in the world!! No joke it was soo tasty. What separates this sandwich from any other sandwich? Well it's served on fresh focaccia bread, with your choice of meat and spread with only the freshest tomatoes and arugula. It's also a family owned restaurant with only two locations, both directly across from each other (the line was crazy long). We took our sandwiches and went to sit along the river looking out at the Ponte Vecchio. 

We were exhausted from the past two days and went to our hostel to just chill for a bit. Getting to our hostel took a bit longer than we expected, but that just made napping at the hostel that much more rewarding. For dinner we head to this place called Dantes that had a wonderfully need unlimited wine special. Thank god for wine, right?! The 3 of us enjoyed each others company (and the wines) and talked about all the crazy things we've done throughout the trip abroad. 

 

We meet up with Emily and her friends at a bar after dinner. Now this is where the night gets a bit fuzzy. Claudia and I sat at the bar and ended up ordering the house beer (which was 13 proof).... Funny story an American guy comes up to us, me assuming he's hitting on us, and starts asking if we will tell the bartender he order our beers so he could get a free shirt. Me being the kind and nice person I am, straight up told this guy that "I honestly don't care". Ha the real me comes out in Italy, I suppose or maybe it was just the wine talking?! Who knows but the night ended in a blur of Claudia yelling at a bunch of Spaniards and Radhika trying to convince a police officer to drive us to our hostel...

The next moving we were all very very slow moving. I'm pretty sure I decided to celebrate my birthday a day early. Um, really I have no idea how the night ended up being so nuts. I blame the wine and beer... As we headed out to start sight-seeing for the day, I honestly thought I was going to get sick. We stopped at a McD's so I could try and eat something and ended up yelling at a homeless boy asking for money. I mean he was trying to take my chicken nugget.... Umm Don't Take My FOOD!! Anyways it was a very messy day (no one got sick, but all 3 of us were struggle busin hard core). First on our list was checking out the leather markets for some Christmas and on my part Birthday shopping. I got a beautiful brown cross body leather bag for myself!! Yay :)

We waited for Emily outside the Duomo and Therese finally met up with us from Milan. Today we headed up to the top of the Duomo. It was a definite struggle walking all those stairs to the top of the Duomo, but so well worth it. The view was amazing, you could see all of Florence. Once we made our way down we headed for a quick lunch and went to the Piazza della Signoria. This was my favorite Piazza in Florence. It was surrounded by a bunch of old statues and was the perfect spot to stop and eat lunch really quick. 

 Next we hiked up to Michalengo's look out. This was another amazing view of the city. We could see everything and made it just in time for sunset. Up here is where the green David is located. There are "fake" David's all over Florence, but the real one is at the Uffizi where we will be going to tomorrow. Florence has so much richness in art and architecture I feel overwhelmed being here.

Again we were exhausted from the day and headed back to the hostel for a nap before dinner. We went to a big dinner with a bunch of people Emily was studying with abroad. At midnight I officially turned 21, but like I said we got a little too crazy the night before and headed home to get some sleep. It's our last day in Florence tomorrow and we still have soo much to see.


We got up bright and early ready to have an amazing day. Like I said today was my birthday! So it was filled with well wishes and great sights. Today we went inside the rest of the Duomo, we didn't get to see everything yesterday. Then we went to the Uffizi to see the David. So the David was okay I guess... Totally kidding it was AMAZING! Never knew someone could put that much detail in a sculpture. He makes every other male look insignificant.

After checking out David for forever. We all went to get a sandwich from All'Antico again. Therese hadn't gotten one yet and we decided they were too good to only have once. We took our sandwiches and sat around the Piazza della Signoria. Claudia and I went around taking a ton of pictures in front of the different statues before we all headed to the Boboli Gardens. Along our way to the Boboli Gardens we walked along the river to the Ponte Vecchio and again stopped for some amazing photo-ops.

We almost didn't make it into the Boboli Gardens, because they were closing soon. But, birthday luck prevailed and we made it into the gardens with only time to spare. The Gardens were so beautiful, even on an overcast day. They were the gardens of the once royal family and we spent about an hour exploring. We honestly could have spent the entire day in here, there was just sooo much too see.

Us at Boboli Gardens

Boboli Gardens

We pretty much got kicked out of the Gardens when closing began. We walked back along the Ponte Vecchio, because the view at night with everything lit up was spectacular (and another great photo-opt). 

We all went to the leather market one last time and hungout at a cafe to warm up. It was surprisingly cold in Florence this weekend and we were outside for the majority of the day. Once we were all warm, we went out to dinner at an Antico restaruant for my birthday dinner!! Love these places, and my first drink as a newly legal 21 year old was.... A cosmo!! hahah thought it was the perfect girly drink

Once we were stuffed from the buffet, Radhika, Claudia, Therese, and I ventured to a local pub Emily recommended to celebrate my birthday. Now turning 21 in Europe is not a big deal, but celebrating a birthday is always a must. We had to get up super early the next day to make our train to Pisa so we couldn't drink too much. The pub we went to was actually an Irish pub and was the perfect place to celebrate my birthday. The bartender Lorenzo was so nice to us and gave me all my birthday drinks/shots for free. Therese and I even came up with our own shot, "The Chicago Fire" shot. It sucked, we are working on an improvement. But today was an amazing birthday that I will never ever in my lifetime forget. I mean how many people can say they celebrated their birthday in Florence?! Um yeah that's what I thought. 

Like I mentioned we got up super early for our train to Pisa. We only stayed in Pisa for a few hours. We had just enough time to check-out the Leaning Tower and grab a slice of pizza before the flight back to Budapest. The Leaning Tower was crazy cool. If you think about it the Tower defies all logic of gravity, yet it is still standing. Like most people we took the corny Leaning Tower pictures and made our way for pizza. I like to call it the Leaning Tower of Pizza...!! (oh the kid in me).




This weekend has been the perfect last trip. I love the girlies so much for making my birthday so special and cannot believe all the amazing things we saw this weekend. Now it's back to Budapest. Once we get back I'm going to have to start studying for finals and process that this whole experience of studying abroad is coming to a close. I am not quite ready to deal with my mixed feelings of saying good bye and leaving. I have grown to love Budapest and consider it my home. Not only that, but all the people I have met have really become family and I can't imagine not seeing them everyday. With that being said enjoy the next few posts about my trip abroad and Arrivederci!!

Until next time-- Szia!