Well, here I am, sitting in Austria on Easter Sunday. I realize I am wayyy behind on updating you of what has been going on in my surreal life. Just to back up a little bit... I spent my 21st birthday in Italy! What a beautiful place, I can't wait to go back one day. I went with two of my close friends that I have met in Groningen (one from NY and one from Australia). I will just give you the highlights of the week...

• We landed in Pisa and got right on a bus to see the leaning tower. After taking some awful photo attempts of "holding the tower up" we finally got the hang of it. After an hour of watching the flood of other tourist and trying to replicate their techniques, we took some decent photos and had a great time doing it.
• We then had our first taste of Italian Food. Pizza, pasta and wine.. what we ate for every single meal. What a great 21st birthday lunch with the leaning tower in the background.
• Our short time in Pisa was up and we ran to the train station and made our way to Cinque Terre.
• Most beautiful place in the world (although Switzerland is now right up there). It is made of five small villages right on the coastline and surrounded by hillsides.
• In October, Cinque Terre was hit with floods that caused billions of euros in damage. Everyone was working so hard to get the villages ready for the busy season ahead. We stayed at furthest and biggest village.
• After doing some wandering and taking millions of photos, we had an early dinner. We then went back to take a short nap but ended up sleeping through the night, exhausted from our busy travel day. I may be one of the few Americans who remembers thier 21st birthdays, but it was the best birthday ever!
• After some gelato for breakfast, we were ready to hike between the five villages. Luckily we made some friends on the way who knew what they were doing. The hike started out easy and ended with us being lead by an Italian man who didn't speak english taking us on the "expert trails". This was one of the most incredible days of my life. The views were unbeleivable and we had lunch at one of the villages. Pesto will never taste the same. After 5 hours of hiking we finally made it safely back down and had lunch with our new friends. We then caught the train again and were off to Florence!
• We stayed at an adorable apartment right by the river in the heart of Florence. My friend Brooke from NY is studying in Denmark and met us there! So great having a best friend from home with you.
• We did sooo much in Florence... here are highlights of my highlights..
• Saw the statue of David, climbed the Duomo, went to the leather markets, went to the Boboli gardens, watched the sunset from the Piazalle Michelangelo and so much more!
• Brooke and I did a wine tasting tour in the country side of Tuscany. We even got to tour the castle on the vineyard where people still live today.
• Another really cool thing we did was we went to one of the secret bakeries. They start baking in the middle of the night. If you know the right ones, you can knock on their back door and they will bring you out some warm, fresh pastries. You have to be quiet or the that live above will dump water on you!

Overall, it was an AMAZING week spent with great friends. I ate the best food of my life and would love to go back someday. While we were away, my traveling buddies put together a surprise party with all my Groningen friends for the night we returned (since we fell asleep at 8 on my birthday). It was a pajama themed party, so fun! I am so thankful to have made such wonderful friends. What a great 21st birthday week celebration in Italy. I am still working on putting up pictures... I have over 1000!