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.

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.

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:

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.

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.