My week began by a quick trip on Sunday to Milan for shopping and church visiting. Everywhere we go throughout Europe, we always end up looking at churches and Milan was no different. The Duomo is a giant church that is a work of art in its own right. It’s grand and beautiful and insane. I’ve never seen such an intricate building before in my life. We spent our five hours in Milan looking at the sights and stopping in more than a few stores before heading back to Rome for Mass, homework and Skype dates with families.
The second major event of my week was the Thanksgiving banquet the Hotel Tiziano puts on for us. All of us girls were a little homesick at that thought of missing thanksgiving with our families back in the states. Thankfully we had a banquet (which is not an over exaggeration) on Wednesday for lunch to help bring us together.
We walked into the dinning room we use to find banquet tables lined up for all of us, with candles and orange centerpieces all around. There was rolls and butter on the table (which is a rare calamity here in Rome) and everyone sat with their group of friends while our professors and other staff members of the Saint Mary’s College Rome Program all sat on one long table at the back of the room, it felt a little like Hogwarts, maybe more so if the students tables had been straight and not diagonal.
Before dinner started we were lead in song by one of the deacons who helps in our church and together we sang God Bless America, (which Dr. Prebys said was our national anthem, since she’s lived outside of the U.S. for the past 30 years, we’ll let it slide) and the Italian national anthem that no one knew the words to. We ate a fabulous dinner of turkey, butternut squash ravioli, baked potatoes, pees, chestnut stuffing, a saffron rice and mushroom dish along with a lemon tart for dessert. To drink we had white, red and sparking wine, the latter of which was used for a toast to the pilgrims, the Italians and everyone back home. Like in the states we were stuffed to the brim and my friends and I had fun taking pictures with our professors who were in the spirit. It was a fun dinner that made everyone less homesick and thankful to be in Italy. Since I had recently finished my novel for National Write A Novel Month, which is when you write a 50,000-word novel in one month, my friends and I toasted to that as well, since I was ecstatic to be done.
After my last class on Wednesday, my roommate and I boarded a sleeping train to Paris where we were spending thanksgiving break one of our friends from Saint Mary’s College, who is studying in Dijon, France. On the train we met a man who was from France but was working in Africa, he decided to be my French professor since after not studying French in 4 years, I was having trouble remembering most of the words. This wasn’t helped by the fact that Italian and French are so similar and I often get them mixed up. He told us for this train ride, we would be his daughters and he would protect us. It was nice to hear because my roommate was especially nervous about who we would be staying with overnight.
Little did we know that he was in the wrong carriage and was an hour later moved to his right one. To celebrate our empty sleeping room, we watched Miracle on 34th Street. Right after the movie ended we stopped in Florence where we had 4 more people join our little room and we all settled in for a good night’s rest.
Our train arrived an hour and a half late and we jumped off and walked immediately to the Jardin des Plants where we had a yummy picnic lunch before walking around a little bit. We got to explore another side of Paris, the less touristy side on our way to the Luxemburg Gardens. The residential area was quiet and beautiful, not at all like the bustling areas around the Eiffel Tower or Notre Dame Cathedral. The Luxemburg Gardens are the place to play for Parisians in the spring and summer but in the late fall, it was mostly bare with the exception of people on walks and birds everywhere. The area was still gorgeous and you could see why people loved coming to it.
Afterwards we checked into our hotel before heading back out to sight see. Since we only had two days in Paris really, we had to make the most of our trip. First we stopped at Notre-Dame Cathedral where we walked inside, saw the nativity scene and took too many pictures of people putting up the large Christmas tree outside of the church. Next we went to my favorite stop, the Shakespeare and Co bookstore. This is the place that Ezra Pound, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway and the rest of the lost generation wrote their novels as ex-pats in Paris. Then we walked around the Latin Quarter and then to the Ile-de-Louis, which the much quieter island next to the one Notre Dame is on. We had dinner at a fabulous little creperie before walking past the bastile on our way home. Instead of going out like many young students in Paris, we snuggled up in bed and watched Christmas movies, excited to have the season begin.
Our next morning we woke up and headed to the Galleries Lafayette to do a little shopping, both Christmas and personal before we caught our train to Brussels. The mall was all decorated for the holidays, which cheered us up since Italy hasn’t begun the season yet. When we arrived in Brussels after a short train ride, we were surprised to see that everything was decorated for the holidays.
In Brussels the air actually smells like powedered sugar and sweetness. Compared to Rome, which doesn’t smell very good, Paris and Brussels, both smell like baked goods and sugar, something we much prefer. We headed first to the Comic Strip Museum which should have been renamed the Tintin Museum. Apparently Belgium has quite a few famous comic strip artists, including the man who created Tintin and The Smurfs, which both had movies in theaters this year. The museum was fun and different after all the art museum and churches we had spent time in the last two months.
After the museum we went and saw the Manikin Pls, which is a fountain of a young boy peeing. I wish I was joking but people there are obsessed with it. We even saw sculptures of him in chocolate as we walked around. We had dinner at a waffle place where I perhaps had the most delicious and expensive waffle of my life. It was worth it because there isn’t really breakfast in Italy. My new favorite type of Belgian waffles are with maple syrup and whipped cream, it’s absolutely amazing.
After dinner we started walking around when we stumbled upon a Christmas festival right next to the Church of Saint Nicolas. We saw a light show at the town center that included lights on the town hall, a giant Christmas tree and a nativity scene with very lifelike wax figures. Then we walked along the booths which included Christmas ornament shops, many bars and a few clothing boutiques. There was a Ferris wheel, other carnival games and an outdoor ice skating rink. It was magical to walk through and made me so excited to go home for the holidays. Before we caught our train back to Paris, we grabbed some hot French fries, which were invented in Belgium.
Saturday morning began with us waking up, eating two croissants quickly and heading to the Louvre to meet up with my best friend Cathy who is studying in Dijon. After a giant scene in front of the pyramids greeting one another, we went inside the museum. We spent three hours in the museum looking at all the French, Italian and other European paintings since we were a little strung out on Greek, roman and Etruscan vases from our last two months studying them every day. We saw the famous Mona Lisa and some other famous works but they were not our main attraction. I had never been so happy to see paintings by Pissarro, Monet, Manet, Picasso, Renoir and Sibley, since impressionists are quite the opposite of ancient art.
Next we went to the famous Tulleries Gardens and spent a little time around there before having the most amazing lunch at a little café on our way to the Eiffel tower. I’ve never had a better Croque Madame in my life (a Croque Madame is French bread with ham, an egg and melted cheese on top).
We had bought our tickets in advance for the Eiffel Tower since we didn’t want to wait in the long line and because we were going to the very top. I hadn’t gone up last time at all when I was in Paris so this was going to be something new for me. It was an amazing experience just for the view alone. It was so beautiful and not at all frightening. I have some amazing pictures from the top that I’ll always keep.
Next we went to the Petit Palace, which is one of the buildings constructed for the world fair. It’s an art museum now and we saw a wide selection of art, including pictures of Paris from the 1860s to present. We walked along the seine river to see the different Bridges including Pont Neuf, the oldest bridge in the city. As we walked Cathy back to the train station, we grabbed crepes from the cute little restaurant we had dinner at on the Il-de-Louis on Thursday night. Before we went to bed, we packed our bags up to leave Paris to head back to Rome.
Over the past two months, Rome has somehow become a type of Home to me. While everyone else has felt homesick I haven’t at all. I guess that may come from growing up all over the United States and having family in so many different parts of the country. For me, home is in many places because I can saw London felt like home because of all the memories when I visited there as a little girl with my parents. I can say Washington D.C. where I lived when I was younger is my home too because I have friends and memories there as well. Chagrin, where I’ve lived for 14 years minus the time spent at Saint Mary’s, is my hometown and while I miss all the people and holidays there, I can’t say I’m actually homesick. Saint Mary’s College is just as much my home because its where my life has been the last year and where I have countless friends.
While I can’t wait to go home for the holidays, I’ll be sad to leave the place I’ve lived for three months. I’ll always have these memories to cherish because I’ve had an amazing time here. Studying abroad is an experience I’ll never forget and I never want to. So much happens when you live in a foreign country. You grow in ways you never thought possible, you make new friends and you also learn what little random things are important to you back home. I have exactly 19 days left in Italy and I’m going to make the most of them.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Southern Italy Fall Break Trip
On Tuesday morning we set out for the Southern Italy tour. Waking up at 6 am after a week of midterms was not exactly what we all had in mind for our fall break. Neither was going on tours of ancient sites, museums and being in Naples, a city full of garbage. Turns out while most of us were dreading going, it ended up a lot better than we thought it would.
Tuesday began with out 3-hour drive to Pompeii, where we visited all the ruins of the city that had been uncovered under almost 2000 years of volcanic ash, dirt and everything else under the sun. As we walked along the ancient city, we saw bars, houses, roman baths, theaters and shops. The city was a perfect construction of a roman town and as we walked along the city, we didn’t just see how life was like 2000 years ago but we saw how a city stopped dead in it’s tracks. There was graffiti on the walls for upcoming political elections and bodies of victims frozen in their last positions, some knocked over from the ash after suffocating, others crouched covering their mouths. As we left Pompeii we saw how the people lived and how similar they were to us.
After Pompeii we settled into our hotel in Naples, found yummy pizza and went grocery shopping. Everyone went to bed far earlier than they had probably in years, since most students were asleep at 10 pm.
Waking up at 7 again to head to the archeological museum was much better after a nice breakfast of fresh pastries on the terrace at the hotel. The museum ended up being closed for All Saint’s Day (a legal holiday in Italy) so we headed to Cumae, which is the location of the acropolis of Cumae and of Sybil’s Cave. For students not in the mythology course, the cave was well a cave, but if you’ve read the Aeneid (or listened to the student presentations on it), it’s the spot of a fortune telling Sybil who helps Aeneas on his journey.
After our morning tours we were let free to wander around Naples. My group chose to visit the Castle of the Egg on the bay of Naples, which led to breath taking views of the city and the sea. We then wandered through the main street, soaking up the activity of Naples. This city was so unlike Rome but I can’t exactly say how, it’s just one of those things you have to experience on your own.
For dinner that night we wandered around looking for a pizza place. Naples is known to be the best city in the entire world for pizza, and they weren’t lying. I’ve never had better pizza in my entire life, including the 6 weeks I’ve been living in Rome. We happened to stumble upon the pizzeria in Eat Pray Love where we each ate too much pizza, took a few too many photos trying to be Julia Roberts and made great friends with the staff.
Thursday was the day of the Almafi drive. If you’ve never heard of the Almafi coast, look it up, because it’s absolutely gorgeous. We packed ourselves into two smaller buses and drove for 4 hours down roads that resembled ribbon candy on cliffs compared to actual roads with a driver who drove a tad too fast. Tad may be an understatement since most of the girls were a little carsick by the time we stopped in Almafi, but it was worth it. The sites were beautiful and once we arrived in the city for our hour break, we didn’t want to leave. The city is known for it’s limoncello and you find it every in crazy looking bottles but the city also has very friendly people and some even better olive oil.
After transferring to the bigger bus with our much better driver (much to everyone’s happiness), we headed to Paestum, which is the site of some of the best-preserved Greek temples in the entire world. Dr. Prebys (the program director) wasn’t joking when she said they were better preserved than in Greece. I took so many pictures because I was so astounded by them and the archeological professor I was with on the tour made everything come alive.
On Friday, our last day in Naples, we were ushered to two museums. The first was the archeological museum, which held artifacts from Pompeii and a large collection of Greek statues. We browsed the collection of warriors and Gods and had a little too much fun trying to decide if Apollo’s head was really on Aphrodite’s body. The professors in this program make all of the visits fun and you learn without even realizing.
The Capodimonte museum afterwards though was one where all of the students could agree they didn’t want to leave. We got a break from the ancient world and looked at Italian renaissance art in a beautiful palace.
For our last night, a few of us went back to the pizza place we’d discovered earlier. They workers remembered us and were so nice. They wanted to take more photos with us, had pizzas in front of us in less than 3 minutes and dealt with all of our excitement. After dinner we were sad to leave because not only had we grown to like Naples, but we were sad to leave the pizza place. We decided if it had been in Rome, it would have been our place to go; sort of how in Friends, they had Central Perk.
As we left Naples early Saturday morning we all looked back on the trip we’d once been dreading. Everyone had a better perspective on the last six weeks and was excited to get back to Rome. It was funny how the minute we got back to the city limits, everyone was excited; Rome has really become our home the last few weeks. Halfway through I can say I learned so much already, everything from knowing if you want the most of the experience, to take archeology, art history or archeology to finding the best gelato places all over Italy. This trip was so much better than I thought it would be, but I was so happy to return to Rome. This week just solidified how happy I am that I studied abroad and I’m looking forward to the rest of my semester here.
Tuesday began with out 3-hour drive to Pompeii, where we visited all the ruins of the city that had been uncovered under almost 2000 years of volcanic ash, dirt and everything else under the sun. As we walked along the ancient city, we saw bars, houses, roman baths, theaters and shops. The city was a perfect construction of a roman town and as we walked along the city, we didn’t just see how life was like 2000 years ago but we saw how a city stopped dead in it’s tracks. There was graffiti on the walls for upcoming political elections and bodies of victims frozen in their last positions, some knocked over from the ash after suffocating, others crouched covering their mouths. As we left Pompeii we saw how the people lived and how similar they were to us.
After Pompeii we settled into our hotel in Naples, found yummy pizza and went grocery shopping. Everyone went to bed far earlier than they had probably in years, since most students were asleep at 10 pm.
Waking up at 7 again to head to the archeological museum was much better after a nice breakfast of fresh pastries on the terrace at the hotel. The museum ended up being closed for All Saint’s Day (a legal holiday in Italy) so we headed to Cumae, which is the location of the acropolis of Cumae and of Sybil’s Cave. For students not in the mythology course, the cave was well a cave, but if you’ve read the Aeneid (or listened to the student presentations on it), it’s the spot of a fortune telling Sybil who helps Aeneas on his journey.
After our morning tours we were let free to wander around Naples. My group chose to visit the Castle of the Egg on the bay of Naples, which led to breath taking views of the city and the sea. We then wandered through the main street, soaking up the activity of Naples. This city was so unlike Rome but I can’t exactly say how, it’s just one of those things you have to experience on your own.
For dinner that night we wandered around looking for a pizza place. Naples is known to be the best city in the entire world for pizza, and they weren’t lying. I’ve never had better pizza in my entire life, including the 6 weeks I’ve been living in Rome. We happened to stumble upon the pizzeria in Eat Pray Love where we each ate too much pizza, took a few too many photos trying to be Julia Roberts and made great friends with the staff.
Thursday was the day of the Almafi drive. If you’ve never heard of the Almafi coast, look it up, because it’s absolutely gorgeous. We packed ourselves into two smaller buses and drove for 4 hours down roads that resembled ribbon candy on cliffs compared to actual roads with a driver who drove a tad too fast. Tad may be an understatement since most of the girls were a little carsick by the time we stopped in Almafi, but it was worth it. The sites were beautiful and once we arrived in the city for our hour break, we didn’t want to leave. The city is known for it’s limoncello and you find it every in crazy looking bottles but the city also has very friendly people and some even better olive oil.
After transferring to the bigger bus with our much better driver (much to everyone’s happiness), we headed to Paestum, which is the site of some of the best-preserved Greek temples in the entire world. Dr. Prebys (the program director) wasn’t joking when she said they were better preserved than in Greece. I took so many pictures because I was so astounded by them and the archeological professor I was with on the tour made everything come alive.
On Friday, our last day in Naples, we were ushered to two museums. The first was the archeological museum, which held artifacts from Pompeii and a large collection of Greek statues. We browsed the collection of warriors and Gods and had a little too much fun trying to decide if Apollo’s head was really on Aphrodite’s body. The professors in this program make all of the visits fun and you learn without even realizing.
The Capodimonte museum afterwards though was one where all of the students could agree they didn’t want to leave. We got a break from the ancient world and looked at Italian renaissance art in a beautiful palace.
For our last night, a few of us went back to the pizza place we’d discovered earlier. They workers remembered us and were so nice. They wanted to take more photos with us, had pizzas in front of us in less than 3 minutes and dealt with all of our excitement. After dinner we were sad to leave because not only had we grown to like Naples, but we were sad to leave the pizza place. We decided if it had been in Rome, it would have been our place to go; sort of how in Friends, they had Central Perk.
As we left Naples early Saturday morning we all looked back on the trip we’d once been dreading. Everyone had a better perspective on the last six weeks and was excited to get back to Rome. It was funny how the minute we got back to the city limits, everyone was excited; Rome has really become our home the last few weeks. Halfway through I can say I learned so much already, everything from knowing if you want the most of the experience, to take archeology, art history or archeology to finding the best gelato places all over Italy. This trip was so much better than I thought it would be, but I was so happy to return to Rome. This week just solidified how happy I am that I studied abroad and I’m looking forward to the rest of my semester here.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Verona! Bologna! Tivoli! Palestraina! oh my!
Verona:
Regina and I woke up bright and early after 5 hours of sleep to go to Verona, the city of Romeo and Juliet. We were very excited for our day, maybe a little too excited. We got to the city and immediately went to see Juliet’s house, after a stop at the Disney store. I had a lot of fun playing with the toys, looking at all the titles in Italian and was proud of myself for not buying gnomeo and guiletta.
Even though it’s nothing like Letters to Juliet, it’s still gorgeous. The balcony was so cool and I got to take a photo on it and we rubbed the statue of Juliet’s breast for good luck. I wrote Andrew’s and I’s initials on the wall, which is supposed to be good luck for the couples you write the names of on the graffiti wall.
The museum was amazing; I’m seriously in love with the house. It’s my absolute dream home. The lay out, the wooden staircases that remind me of the 15th and 16th century, the stones, the beautiful fireplaces, and everything else made me fall in love. I will figure out how to build a townhouse like hers someday. If only if it had the garden from Villa d’este, it would be my dream home. Before we left, we did mail our letters to Juliet and took a few pictures on the balcony.
As we explored we got to practice our Italian with a really nice woman from Milan who loved talking to us. This mildly awkward half Brazilian half Italian model who worked at the store we were in was very proud to tell us he had a shoot in Boston and asked if we knew any nice Italian me, When he said no, he asked if we liked Brazilian men, maybe guys are all just creepy here. We walked around the city, went to a pretty market, and saw a few churches (what else in Italy?). We did get to experience fall a little bit because the leaves were turning and we found a cool park with some interesting statues.
Bologna
We had it planned out to have dinner in Bologna, which is the city of amazing food. Literally it’s known for its tortellini and Bolognese meat sauce. Before we had dinner, we went to see a very beautiful church that has been unfinished for over 600 years. We also saw the place where criminals said their last rites, were hanged and the Neptune fountain. The leaning tower of Bologna was kind of hilarious because it’s literally coming out of the ground. We found a great place for dinner that had good food, nice people and a really cool atmosphere. The guys who were serving us were really nice and they asked all about us and didn’t just hit on us. Did tell me I was bella as we left, but it wasn’t in the usual creepy way. Before we left, I quickly wrote a postcard and finally found a place to mail it to the states. We accidently missed our stop for the train station on our bus but we made it to the train in time. We sat next to a really nice young woman from Rome who helped me practice my Italian. She tried to get Regina to practice, but we were so tired, it was probably hilarious. I still can’t say gli right, but I’ll keep trying.
Saturday
We woke up insanely early (and by early I mean 6:30) to go to Tivoli and to Villa Adriana, which was the country estate for the emperor Hadean, one of the great emperors of Rome. His estate was very pretty even though all in ruins. The gardens are the main focus of the area because unlike most people of the time he wanted to build a beautiful garden to be the focus about the area. The water features, statues and baths are all worth coming to visit, even at 9 am. We went to see his little median theater, which is a little house on an island with a moat that had baths, a bedroom, study and receiving area. He used it for him and his male lover to escape from his life. He died a year after the death of said lover from a broken heart, though we’re not sure how his wife felt about that.
We had lunch in the city of Tivoli and explored for half an hour after getting really good pizza. Next we went to Villa d’este, which is the summer home built by a cardinal in the 1500s. It’s beyond amazing. The house itself is typical of the wealth, time period and Mediterranean region but the gardens were breathtaking. My favorite place in the world was the governor’s garden in colonial Williamsburg, but I’m pretty sure this place wins. It was amazing; there were so many beautiful features. I can’t even explain how pretty it was. It wasn’t just pretty though, it was an engineering revolution and amazing. The garden is built on a cliff and has a thousand fountains, plants, pathways, verandas, caves and even a temple. I did not want to leave at all, and even gelato didn’t help once we left. It was just gorgeous.
Next we went to Palestrina, which was a temple to Fortuna. It was cool and we went in the museum. We did get to see some make up cases from 300 BC, a really cool mosaic of Alexandria in the 4th century BC and got to explore the sanctuary ruins. There is a story of the origins of the wishing well that was cool. This guy had a dream from the gods who told him to dig a large hole in the ground. He found these wooden rods with writing he couldn’t understand so he decided they had to be from the gods. Then people would come to the sanctuary, ask a priest question and the priest would tie up a young boy, who was pure and innocent, and send him down the well to pull out a rod, blindfolded, and then pull him back up. Then he would interpret the rod and give an answer. We’re not sure how the boy dealt with being tossed down a well with a probably flimsy rope or how the guy decided the rods were from the gods, but it makes a cool story.
All in all the day was great. We had a great experience in the last two days, even though not much sleep. We got to cross two more things off our Italy bucket list, Juliet’s house and eating in Bologna. I’ll never forget what I saw and I can’t wait for swimming off the coast of Capri, going to Pompeii and everything else we get to do next week on our trip. Just have to survive midterms first on Monday. Oh well, living in Italy, can’t get much better than this.
Regina and I woke up bright and early after 5 hours of sleep to go to Verona, the city of Romeo and Juliet. We were very excited for our day, maybe a little too excited. We got to the city and immediately went to see Juliet’s house, after a stop at the Disney store. I had a lot of fun playing with the toys, looking at all the titles in Italian and was proud of myself for not buying gnomeo and guiletta.
Even though it’s nothing like Letters to Juliet, it’s still gorgeous. The balcony was so cool and I got to take a photo on it and we rubbed the statue of Juliet’s breast for good luck. I wrote Andrew’s and I’s initials on the wall, which is supposed to be good luck for the couples you write the names of on the graffiti wall.
The museum was amazing; I’m seriously in love with the house. It’s my absolute dream home. The lay out, the wooden staircases that remind me of the 15th and 16th century, the stones, the beautiful fireplaces, and everything else made me fall in love. I will figure out how to build a townhouse like hers someday. If only if it had the garden from Villa d’este, it would be my dream home. Before we left, we did mail our letters to Juliet and took a few pictures on the balcony.
As we explored we got to practice our Italian with a really nice woman from Milan who loved talking to us. This mildly awkward half Brazilian half Italian model who worked at the store we were in was very proud to tell us he had a shoot in Boston and asked if we knew any nice Italian me, When he said no, he asked if we liked Brazilian men, maybe guys are all just creepy here. We walked around the city, went to a pretty market, and saw a few churches (what else in Italy?). We did get to experience fall a little bit because the leaves were turning and we found a cool park with some interesting statues.
Bologna
We had it planned out to have dinner in Bologna, which is the city of amazing food. Literally it’s known for its tortellini and Bolognese meat sauce. Before we had dinner, we went to see a very beautiful church that has been unfinished for over 600 years. We also saw the place where criminals said their last rites, were hanged and the Neptune fountain. The leaning tower of Bologna was kind of hilarious because it’s literally coming out of the ground. We found a great place for dinner that had good food, nice people and a really cool atmosphere. The guys who were serving us were really nice and they asked all about us and didn’t just hit on us. Did tell me I was bella as we left, but it wasn’t in the usual creepy way. Before we left, I quickly wrote a postcard and finally found a place to mail it to the states. We accidently missed our stop for the train station on our bus but we made it to the train in time. We sat next to a really nice young woman from Rome who helped me practice my Italian. She tried to get Regina to practice, but we were so tired, it was probably hilarious. I still can’t say gli right, but I’ll keep trying.
Saturday
We woke up insanely early (and by early I mean 6:30) to go to Tivoli and to Villa Adriana, which was the country estate for the emperor Hadean, one of the great emperors of Rome. His estate was very pretty even though all in ruins. The gardens are the main focus of the area because unlike most people of the time he wanted to build a beautiful garden to be the focus about the area. The water features, statues and baths are all worth coming to visit, even at 9 am. We went to see his little median theater, which is a little house on an island with a moat that had baths, a bedroom, study and receiving area. He used it for him and his male lover to escape from his life. He died a year after the death of said lover from a broken heart, though we’re not sure how his wife felt about that.
We had lunch in the city of Tivoli and explored for half an hour after getting really good pizza. Next we went to Villa d’este, which is the summer home built by a cardinal in the 1500s. It’s beyond amazing. The house itself is typical of the wealth, time period and Mediterranean region but the gardens were breathtaking. My favorite place in the world was the governor’s garden in colonial Williamsburg, but I’m pretty sure this place wins. It was amazing; there were so many beautiful features. I can’t even explain how pretty it was. It wasn’t just pretty though, it was an engineering revolution and amazing. The garden is built on a cliff and has a thousand fountains, plants, pathways, verandas, caves and even a temple. I did not want to leave at all, and even gelato didn’t help once we left. It was just gorgeous.
Next we went to Palestrina, which was a temple to Fortuna. It was cool and we went in the museum. We did get to see some make up cases from 300 BC, a really cool mosaic of Alexandria in the 4th century BC and got to explore the sanctuary ruins. There is a story of the origins of the wishing well that was cool. This guy had a dream from the gods who told him to dig a large hole in the ground. He found these wooden rods with writing he couldn’t understand so he decided they had to be from the gods. Then people would come to the sanctuary, ask a priest question and the priest would tie up a young boy, who was pure and innocent, and send him down the well to pull out a rod, blindfolded, and then pull him back up. Then he would interpret the rod and give an answer. We’re not sure how the boy dealt with being tossed down a well with a probably flimsy rope or how the guy decided the rods were from the gods, but it makes a cool story.
All in all the day was great. We had a great experience in the last two days, even though not much sleep. We got to cross two more things off our Italy bucket list, Juliet’s house and eating in Bologna. I’ll never forget what I saw and I can’t wait for swimming off the coast of Capri, going to Pompeii and everything else we get to do next week on our trip. Just have to survive midterms first on Monday. Oh well, living in Italy, can’t get much better than this.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Tarquina!
I spent half an hour looking for sea glass. Half an hour combing the beach, taking pictures with friends and soaking up enjoying our day at the beach. I found this beautiful, smooth stone as I looked and I picked it up and put it in pocket, at least keeping it if I found no sea glass. Then my roommate found some, so I kept looking. I finally found a piece and then found two more, making me very happy. I put them in my pocket and all day long carried them with me. I carried them through centuries old tombs, through lectures about Etruscans and while I took more than a few photos of the many cats we saw.
Turns out, our long day of tours turned out to be so much more.
We were woken up at 6 am by a wake up call. Everyone got dressed in the dark, not really wanting to be awake. We grabbed breakfast and all boarded the bus going to Tarquinia, an Etruscan city.
We have been studying the Etruscans in all of our classes recently. We don't know anything about them really from primary sources. Everything we know is from their tombs. So we drove an hour and a half out of the city to Tarquinia. We spent the few few hours going to different tombs there before heading to the museum to see the artifacts pulled out them.
It was very cool to see the paintings in the tomb that told stories about the people.
Next we headed to the beach for our picnic lunch. It was amazing. We got to put our feet in the Tirreno Sea which is part of the Mediterranean sea. It was a perfect day. We walked on the beach, and ate on the cliffs. It was very fun and I liked the break it gave me. It made everything worth it.
We next went tomb raiding for a few hours to see some more impressive tombs. They were so intricate with multiple rooms, beds, pillows even.
This day was amazing. We got to study the history of the area and go to find out more about a new culture. Climbing in all the tombs themselves reminded me of Laura Croft but it also made me think about how they lived. Their familes were buried around them, did different people get different pillows or different beds? I loved trying to figure out potential lives, making up stories to them.
The day at the beach was fabulous. After our week of studying, it was nice to get to relax and enjoy italy. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in classes (like this week in midterms), but it's nice to get a break. We walked into the ocean, along the beach, explored cliffs, ate a picnic and took lots of pictures. It was so calming and was one of those days that reminds you why this is an amazing experience. I loved the beach, the tombs, the history and even the lectures. It left me exhausted and hungry, but was also one of my favorite days since I arrived and I was in the best mood when we came home to Rome.
That smooth rock reminds me that I always keep going. I never settle for anything less. It also reminds me that while some things may be a blessing in disguise. That rock wasn't what I was looking for but I liked it all the same. Now I can say that the rock is the favorite thing from the beach I brought back, even more than my sea glass. How smooth it is reminds me of the smooth stones on the beach and now I carry it with me, reminding me that not everything is as bad as it seems.
Turns out, our long day of tours turned out to be so much more.
We were woken up at 6 am by a wake up call. Everyone got dressed in the dark, not really wanting to be awake. We grabbed breakfast and all boarded the bus going to Tarquinia, an Etruscan city.
We have been studying the Etruscans in all of our classes recently. We don't know anything about them really from primary sources. Everything we know is from their tombs. So we drove an hour and a half out of the city to Tarquinia. We spent the few few hours going to different tombs there before heading to the museum to see the artifacts pulled out them.
It was very cool to see the paintings in the tomb that told stories about the people.
Next we headed to the beach for our picnic lunch. It was amazing. We got to put our feet in the Tirreno Sea which is part of the Mediterranean sea. It was a perfect day. We walked on the beach, and ate on the cliffs. It was very fun and I liked the break it gave me. It made everything worth it.
We next went tomb raiding for a few hours to see some more impressive tombs. They were so intricate with multiple rooms, beds, pillows even.
This day was amazing. We got to study the history of the area and go to find out more about a new culture. Climbing in all the tombs themselves reminded me of Laura Croft but it also made me think about how they lived. Their familes were buried around them, did different people get different pillows or different beds? I loved trying to figure out potential lives, making up stories to them.
The day at the beach was fabulous. After our week of studying, it was nice to get to relax and enjoy italy. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in classes (like this week in midterms), but it's nice to get a break. We walked into the ocean, along the beach, explored cliffs, ate a picnic and took lots of pictures. It was so calming and was one of those days that reminds you why this is an amazing experience. I loved the beach, the tombs, the history and even the lectures. It left me exhausted and hungry, but was also one of my favorite days since I arrived and I was in the best mood when we came home to Rome.
That smooth rock reminds me that I always keep going. I never settle for anything less. It also reminds me that while some things may be a blessing in disguise. That rock wasn't what I was looking for but I liked it all the same. Now I can say that the rock is the favorite thing from the beach I brought back, even more than my sea glass. How smooth it is reminds me of the smooth stones on the beach and now I carry it with me, reminding me that not everything is as bad as it seems.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Florence!
So yesterday was my favorite day on this trip so far. Regina and I traveled, very early in the morning to Florence, the city of Michelangelo and leather.
We woke up at 6 am to catch the 6:30 bus to the train station. We proceeded to wait forever for the 8:22 train to Florence (the train schedule was different than we were told). On said train we got to sit on terrible seats and attempt to stay awake, which was hard because we kept going through tunnels. We finally arrived in Florence and got possible the most amazing and largest pizza of our trip.
Next we looked at the Duomo, one of the most beautufiul marble churches in the world.
After the duomo we decided to go to the Galleria dell'Academia which is the museum that houses David, the famous statue by Michelangelo. We went through an exhibit of Lorenzo Bartolini which was beautiful. He was a great sculptor as well and had so many works. I'm so impressed by all the sculptors because I could never do what they do. They should all have museums.
David:
We woke up at 6 am to catch the 6:30 bus to the train station. We proceeded to wait forever for the 8:22 train to Florence (the train schedule was different than we were told). On said train we got to sit on terrible seats and attempt to stay awake, which was hard because we kept going through tunnels. We finally arrived in Florence and got possible the most amazing and largest pizza of our trip.
Next we looked at the Duomo, one of the most beautufiul marble churches in the world.
After the duomo we decided to go to the Galleria dell'Academia which is the museum that houses David, the famous statue by Michelangelo. We went through an exhibit of Lorenzo Bartolini which was beautiful. He was a great sculptor as well and had so many works. I'm so impressed by all the sculptors because I could never do what they do. They should all have museums.
David:
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Recap from a long weekend.
So today since I was a little homesick today (or at least homesick for American food, well my mother's food) I decided to take a little walk to an American bakery I found online. There I found the most amazing sticky buns and worth the 2,50 euros. Made my day after a long weekend and an even longer Italian class.
This weekend we went to the roman forum, palentine hill and the Colosseum. At 8 am we all set out for the walk to the forum on a hot day for the first of October. The sights were gorgeous and full of history.
While mostly in ruin, we saw the sight of Julius Caeser's possible burial (oh and found out he was killed on the location of our hotel, no big deal). We saw Nero's palace, an old church, parts of the temples, where the priestesses lived and the hill where Romulus according to legend created his village.
We had a quick dinner break after our professor abandoned us at the entrance of the site to take a cab back to the hotel for dinner. It took us a little longer than it should have to get back but we survived with gelato as a treat after our meal. I do love that the hotel serves gelato, makes things a little more affordable.
Then we went to the Colosseum and my group had the amazing archaeology teacher give the tour. It was unbelievable to see the site because not only was it preserved well enough to walk in, though with many holes where Italians had taken out chunks to build new buildings, but it also was so powerful. We were standing in a place where over two centuries people had watched animals fight, gladiators fight, public executions and the persecution of more than a few Christians. The building might be covered in soot from cars and not the cream color it once was, but it was still amazing to see.
On the way home we made a few pitstops, like watching some cool artists, looking at post cards and taking more than a few pictures of the Memorial to Vittorio Emanuele II.
Due to 9 hours in the sun the day before, I had a bit of heatstroke and spent Sunday in bed doing homework while my roommate went to mass at St. Peters. Then on monday we commenced class again.
My classes teach me about the city and the city teaches me about my classes. Everything begins to connect when you're there with it. You read about how the priestess's would have to keep the fire going or be put to death. Then you see the site itself and wonder if it had a roof. You see flowers over a grave and wonder if it's Julius Caesers. You wonder how Rome was really founded, if the myth has any truth to it.
We're seeing everything here and it's amazing. It still hasn't sunk in that I'm living in Rome, minus when I start wondering where I can find ginger ale. I love being in the city because it's an immersion into a culture, it's not just tours and seeing the sights, its the whole experience. The fact that I have trouble asking for directions to this bakery will eventually fix themselves, hopefully, at least that is the goal. It's a once of a lifetime experience and I'm living it. Not going crazy taking pictures of everything I see and not going to every sight possible right away. Though I'll definitely start doing this saturday when we make our way to Florence. I can't wait.
This weekend we went to the roman forum, palentine hill and the Colosseum. At 8 am we all set out for the walk to the forum on a hot day for the first of October. The sights were gorgeous and full of history.
While mostly in ruin, we saw the sight of Julius Caeser's possible burial (oh and found out he was killed on the location of our hotel, no big deal). We saw Nero's palace, an old church, parts of the temples, where the priestesses lived and the hill where Romulus according to legend created his village.
We had a quick dinner break after our professor abandoned us at the entrance of the site to take a cab back to the hotel for dinner. It took us a little longer than it should have to get back but we survived with gelato as a treat after our meal. I do love that the hotel serves gelato, makes things a little more affordable.
Then we went to the Colosseum and my group had the amazing archaeology teacher give the tour. It was unbelievable to see the site because not only was it preserved well enough to walk in, though with many holes where Italians had taken out chunks to build new buildings, but it also was so powerful. We were standing in a place where over two centuries people had watched animals fight, gladiators fight, public executions and the persecution of more than a few Christians. The building might be covered in soot from cars and not the cream color it once was, but it was still amazing to see.
On the way home we made a few pitstops, like watching some cool artists, looking at post cards and taking more than a few pictures of the Memorial to Vittorio Emanuele II.
Due to 9 hours in the sun the day before, I had a bit of heatstroke and spent Sunday in bed doing homework while my roommate went to mass at St. Peters. Then on monday we commenced class again.
My classes teach me about the city and the city teaches me about my classes. Everything begins to connect when you're there with it. You read about how the priestess's would have to keep the fire going or be put to death. Then you see the site itself and wonder if it had a roof. You see flowers over a grave and wonder if it's Julius Caesers. You wonder how Rome was really founded, if the myth has any truth to it.
We're seeing everything here and it's amazing. It still hasn't sunk in that I'm living in Rome, minus when I start wondering where I can find ginger ale. I love being in the city because it's an immersion into a culture, it's not just tours and seeing the sights, its the whole experience. The fact that I have trouble asking for directions to this bakery will eventually fix themselves, hopefully, at least that is the goal. It's a once of a lifetime experience and I'm living it. Not going crazy taking pictures of everything I see and not going to every sight possible right away. Though I'll definitely start doing this saturday when we make our way to Florence. I can't wait.
Monday, October 3, 2011
Journal #1: The land where buses are Mercedes and police cars are BMWs
A week and a half ago, 46 students arrived in Rome to begin our semester abroad. We knew we’d learn about history, better understand a new culture, have trouble with the language for some and eat plenty of gelato. Little did we know we’d be climbing up a mountain, see a traveling band or be whisked away before the peace march could commence. I’ll explain all of these events in a minute.
Our orientation took place in Assisi, a usually sleepy town in the Umbrian valley. Home to St. Francis of Assisi and one of the most beautiful view in Italy. Our 3-hour bus ride led us to the base of the mountain, something we would climb halfway to our hotel. Our fearless leader, Ms. McHugh climbed this in heels, which made her even more astonishing.
We had good food, explored a bit and all went to bed early. We then rose and took our first tour, up the rest of the mountain to a castle rightfully named, La Rocca. The rest of our trip was very similar. Tours to various churches and other markers, people catching up on sleep and exploring to find the better gelaterias.
Our last day though provided some excitement when we were suddenly rushed out of dinner and we pushed into 8 waiting taxis, all waiting to take us away. Some girls were confused, others excited. One even exclaimed as we left “It’s like the von trap family escaping the nazis”. It was quite exciting because as we drove away from the place we’d become comfortable in, we saw the beauty of the town once again, but also the impending peace parade. The peace parade is when 50,000 people march across the region to Assisi in promotion of peace. They were coming and would not let us out, so it made sense we left quickly.
Rome, which we would soon call our home for the next 3 months, came shortly after. We soon settled in our hotel, got a tour of our campus and had delicious pizza, which was far cheaper than any in the states and tasted much better.
I noticed many things in my first week in Rome. For one, I laughed at the Mercedes buses and taxis and the BMW police cars. I loved how much cleaner the city was then I imagined (if you pretended the graffiti didn’t exist). I also noticed how they were constant sirens, everywhere. This could be because of the fact we were in the city or because we were close to a hospital. Little things such as old men in suits eating gelato at lunchtime make me laugh. Hearing all the different languages makes me smile, especially when I hear English or even better, understand Italian.
The language barrier wasn’t as bad as I thought. For one, I could understand them more they could understand me. Also the hand gestures my teachers had told me about made a huge difference. They trusted me because I knew them and I understand more because they were universal.
The trip so far has been an amazing experience. I love my classes, I love my professors, I’ve made great friends and have had a lot of great food. It’s going to be a great experience I think and I’m glad it is just beginning.
Our orientation took place in Assisi, a usually sleepy town in the Umbrian valley. Home to St. Francis of Assisi and one of the most beautiful view in Italy. Our 3-hour bus ride led us to the base of the mountain, something we would climb halfway to our hotel. Our fearless leader, Ms. McHugh climbed this in heels, which made her even more astonishing.
We had good food, explored a bit and all went to bed early. We then rose and took our first tour, up the rest of the mountain to a castle rightfully named, La Rocca. The rest of our trip was very similar. Tours to various churches and other markers, people catching up on sleep and exploring to find the better gelaterias.
Our last day though provided some excitement when we were suddenly rushed out of dinner and we pushed into 8 waiting taxis, all waiting to take us away. Some girls were confused, others excited. One even exclaimed as we left “It’s like the von trap family escaping the nazis”. It was quite exciting because as we drove away from the place we’d become comfortable in, we saw the beauty of the town once again, but also the impending peace parade. The peace parade is when 50,000 people march across the region to Assisi in promotion of peace. They were coming and would not let us out, so it made sense we left quickly.
Rome, which we would soon call our home for the next 3 months, came shortly after. We soon settled in our hotel, got a tour of our campus and had delicious pizza, which was far cheaper than any in the states and tasted much better.
I noticed many things in my first week in Rome. For one, I laughed at the Mercedes buses and taxis and the BMW police cars. I loved how much cleaner the city was then I imagined (if you pretended the graffiti didn’t exist). I also noticed how they were constant sirens, everywhere. This could be because of the fact we were in the city or because we were close to a hospital. Little things such as old men in suits eating gelato at lunchtime make me laugh. Hearing all the different languages makes me smile, especially when I hear English or even better, understand Italian.
The language barrier wasn’t as bad as I thought. For one, I could understand them more they could understand me. Also the hand gestures my teachers had told me about made a huge difference. They trusted me because I knew them and I understand more because they were universal.
The trip so far has been an amazing experience. I love my classes, I love my professors, I’ve made great friends and have had a lot of great food. It’s going to be a great experience I think and I’m glad it is just beginning.
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