Siena and Pisa

The weekend after Venice, we were supposed to have a program included day trip, but it was postponed due to the snow (still!).  So instead, Shannon and I decided to go to Siena and Pisa for a couple of days.

On Wednesday of that week, we had an Italian cooking class on campus.  A chef came to our school and we made pasta!  Making pasta is simple, but at the same time, it was exhausting!  The ingredients include: flour, eggs, a dash of salt and a little bit of olive oil.  Once you mix the ingredients together (with your hands!) you knead it into a dough and roll it out flat.  Because of the elasticity of the eggs, rolling out the dough was hard work.  I woke up the next morning and I was SORE.  Once it was finally rolled out thinly enough, we cut it up.  The chef taught us how to make fettuccine, ravioli and tortellini.  We brought it home to cook, and it was delicious.  I can't wait to make it when I get back to the States!

Early Friday morning, we left for Siena.  I went with two of my roommates, Annie and Shannon.  Both of them are taking a class called "Living Italy", and they had learned all about Siena.  Siena is an ancient city in Tuscany (near Florence).  Like many cities in Tuscany, the main attraction is the city itself, so the best way to experience it is by walking around.  So that's what we did!  Within the city walls, there are 17 "contradas", or neighborhoods.  The closest thing I can compare these contradas to is a country club, or possibly a fraternity.  Members pay dues, and in many cases, must be born into the legacy.  Each contrada is represented by a different animal.  Every summer there is a horse race among the contradas, called "il palio".  Horses are selected by lottery, so a contrada could have the best horse one year and the worst one another year.  The race takes places in the center of town, a fan shaped piazza called il campo.  Apparently, the race lasts about 40 seconds, but the winning contrada celebrates for an entire year.  Everywhere we walked, we saw signs representing the different contradas, marking it as their property.

When we first arrived, we checked into our hostel, a cute bed and breakfast just outside the city walls.  We walked into the main square and got a lunch with a view!  It was a beautiful sunny day, and sitting in the main square people watching was so relaxing.  After lunch, we climbed the bell tower in the main square, which is 502 steps high--exhausting!  The bell tower in Provincetown is supposedly an exact replica of the one in Siena, interesting fact.  Anyway, when we finally made it to the top, we were treated to a beautiful view of the entire city. I've seen quite a few city views this semester, but this one was definitely unique.  All of the red roofed buildings at staggered heights were so cool, and the Cathedral peaking out above them all in the distance was awesome.  We climbed back down and treated ourselves to gelato in the square.  I typically dabble in the fruity flavors, my favorite being banana.  This time I got banana and pineapple, which was a great combination.  We sat and ate our gelato in the square and, I guess we were a little tired, because all three of us fell asleep for a good half hour.  It was a much needed nap.  We made our way across town and found the Cathedral, which was gigantic.  Unfortunately, the Catholic church often likes to rip you off, and they were asking for a steep 10 euros just to enter the cathedral.  No, thanks.  I'm sure the churches in Rome are better anyway!  But the outside was pretty enough, so we walked around it for awhile and then headed back to our hostel.  Annie went home, because she was meeting her family the next morning, but Shannon and I got cleaned up and headed back in for dinner.  I had shells stuffed with a creamy pumpkin filling, delicious!  Although it may not seem like we did much, it had been a pretty long day, and we both passed out extremely early.

The next day we got up early for breakfast.  Breakfast in Italy typically consists of a shot of espresso and a croissant (cornetto).  Lucky for us, this breakfast included some nice protein--sausages.  We both ate healthy portions and tried to converse with the Italians that we shared a table with, who were intently watching the Italian news and oohing and ahhhing over their daily horoscopes.  Then we headed to the train station to go to Pisa.

I don't want to hate on Pisa, but it really has absolutely nothing to offer with the exception of the Leaning Tower.  Regardless, any student who studies in Italy and doesn't see it is just plain silly.  Thankfully, Pisa was a quick, easy and inexpensive train ride from Siena.  We had a rough idea of where the tower was in relation to the train station, but when we got a little lost, we found the nearest group of people holding a map and followed them.  We found ourselves walking alongside a family from Australia, trying to navigate on the father's iPad.  They were completely useless.  After being lost for an additional 20 minutes, we left them and followed our instincts, making it to the tower in less than 5 minutes.

At first sight of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, I can honestly say that it is one of the only things I have seen thus far that was exactly how I pictured it to be.  I guess all the photos I have seen represented it very nicely.  The thing sure does lean, that is no joke.  The one thing I did not realize is that within the same square is a beautiful church and baptistry.  Another thing I did not plan for were the amount of people posing with the tower.  EVERYWHERE I looked there were people holding up the tower, pushing it over, kicking it, booty bumping it, carrying it, hugging it, etc etc etc etc.  It was hilarious to watch all of the different poses.  Of course, Shannon and I took part in the fun, and each got our fair share of pictures with the tower, which was pretty much the only reason we came in the first place.  We walked around the square and into the church, which, like all the churches I have seen, was beautiful.  But, as pretty as it was, it doesn't hold a candle to any of the churches in Rome, so it's tough to compare.  We both also got leaning shot glasses, along with a couple of postcards.  Then we grabbed a slice of pizza and headed back to the train station to go back to Rome.  It is funny how no matter where I go, it always feels so good to be back in Rome.  I guess it is kind of like a second home at this point.

il Campo

Bell Tower

View from the Bell Tower!

The Cathedral

HEYYY

Outside of the Church

Again, thanks for reading, and keep checking back for more!  Miss you all!

Venice Carnevale!

After the snow melted, everything slowly went back to normal.  Classes resumed, and on Tuesday we went to the Capitoline Museums with my theology class.  The museums were awesome, and it really made me wish I was in Rome with my high school latin teacher because he knows EVERYTHING and would have made the trip much more interesting.  My theology professor is a moral theologian who teaches at PC, so statues and art are not her forte.  She spent most of the museum trip saying "now what do you guys think this is?" and one of my classmates would have to google the statues and tell her the background information.  Very frustrating.  However, we got to see a lot of stuff that I had learned about and still remember from Latin, which was cool.  The She-Wolf statue was a memorable one, as well as the gigantic Marcus Aurelius on horseback statue and the Hall of Emperors.  Before my mom and the whole gang come, I will have to brush up on some of the other things so I can give them a tour.

That weekend we had planned on staying in Rome, but as my roommate Shannon and I checked our calendars, we realized that we didn't have time for a weekend in Venice!  Now, I have heard mixed reviews about Venice, but Meg Walsh said it was one of her favorite cities, and we're usually on the same page about these things, so I figured I had to get there.  The only problem was that this particular weekend was the first weekend of Carnevale, the Venice Mardi Gras celebration.  It is the oldest Mardi Gras celebration in the world.  Now, that all sounds great, until you check out the price of train tickets...through the roof! One of the tour companies was doing a day trip to Venice for the carnevale, but we wanted to actually see Venice rather than spend the day on a bus.  So, we made a goal to figure out a way to get to Venice or cheap.  And we did!  We were able to find round trip transportation and a night at a hostel for only 10 euros more than the day trip. Pretty impressive.

We left early Friday morning for Florence, where we had a two hour layover.  Perfect amount of time for lunch!  Based off another suggestion from the lovely Danica Lynch, we walked across the river to Gusta Pizza.  Still a little disappointed that our Naples trip was cancelled, we wanted to fill the void.  Let me just preface this by saying I am not and never have been a huge pizza person.  I eat it occasionally and enjoy it, but I would never choose pizza over chicken or fish or pasta.  This pizza was different.  It honestly MELTED in my mouth.  My entire pie was consumed in no more than six minutes.  It was absolutely fantastic.  Naples has nothing on Gusta.  Mom, Patti, if you're reading this, make sure you add Gusta to the itinerary, preferably when I will be in Florence to go with you!!

After some stress at the train station (one train was cancelled and we almost missed the other one), we were on our way to Venice.  When we finally got there, it was COLD.  And WINDY.  Venice is made up of almost 120 islands, so there are smalls rivers and bridges everywhere.  They do not have cars on the roads, and the taxis and buses are actually boats that run through the rivers.  All the buildings are brightly colored, and the city is so quaint and beautiful, despite the cold.  It was around 4PM, so we checked into our hostel, which was absolutely perfect.  We arrived just in time, as the complimentary tea began at 4.  We dropped our bags, warmed up with tea and Nutella cookies, and we were ready to head out and explore the city.  Technically, the celebrating began the next day, so we were excited to have one night in Venice without the crowds and chaos.

About thirty feet from out hostel, there was a small abandoned boat in the river.  I didn't bring my camera to Venice for fear of it being stolen or broken, so Shannon was on camera duty for the weekend.  I asked her to take a picture of me with the boat and the river in the background.  She got down on the dock to improve the angle, and BOOM, fell right in the water!!! I didn't even hear a splash, and I was looking the opposite direction at the time, but all of a sudden I heard an innocent cry for help, and saw her hanging onto the dock for dear life.  I have never laughed harder in my 20 years of life.  I tried to pull her out, but the dock was slippery and I almost fell in myself, besides, I was laughing so hard I couldn't really focus on the situation at hand.  All of a sudden, two random Italian men came sprinting across the piazza and plucked her from the murky water, leaving her to dry on the dock.  After awhile of hysterical laughter, we finally came to, and walked three doors down to our hostel to get her changed into some warm clothes.  (Side note: there is no sewer system in Venice, so most of the sewage seeps into the canal and tributaries, so gross).  The sad part of the story is that her camera did break, and she had to buy a new one.  But I have to give her credit because she was a very good sport, I would have been miserable the rest of the weekend.  Also, that story was my inspiration for starting this blog, so shout out to Shannon for that!  It is definitely a story that I will remember forever.

After she showered, we walked around for awhile and got her some new clothes.  We stop in for a quick bite to eat and called it a night, since Saturday was a big day.  We woke up early on Saturday and headed into town.  On the way, we stopped and got masks!  In a true New Orleans Mardi Gras fashion, I got one that is green, purple and gold.  Soon after we got into the center, we found Meg, my friend from Sundae School! She was with two friends, so the 5 of us spent the day together.  Venice Carnevale is hard to explain.  There were people there of all ages, some in $1,000+ costumes, some in full body paint.  Every piazza was bumping with street performers and their audiences.  In the main square there was a huge stage and there were groups performing all day and night.  Basically, it was a huge party.  We were outside the entire day, with the exception of a few stops into various cafes to warm up.  It was so fun to just walk around and see all of the different masks and costumes.  There was even a group of college aged boys dressed as pigs, with full pink suits, face paint and noses.  Also, there was a group of 20+ people all in banana suits.  I wish I had more time to plan ahead!  I guess I'm not as smart as Steve Walsh when it comes to always having a costume on me! There were people there from all over the world.  I met people from Switzerland, Brazil, United States, Portugal, the list goes on.  Thinking back that far, it is tough to remember every costume and detail, but a lot of people went all out.  Later that day, we ran into even more people we knew.  Europe is a small continent.  We hadn't booked a hostel for that night, so we took a night train home.  Although it was another great weekend, once again, it was great to be back in Rome

GUSTA

Scene of the crime

Venice!

All of us with masks...can you tell it was warm?!?!?!

Main Carnevale Stage

Some of many street performers

I have a pretty light week work-wise, so keep checking back! Hopefully I can get another post or two in!

Love,

Julie

Snowpocalypse

Hello again!

The fourth week of my trip was a very unusual one.  Classes at the beginning of the week went as planned, and we scheduled a day trip to Naples for that Saturday to have a taste of the best pizza in the world.  We were all hearing rumors about flurries that weekend, but since most of us are from New England, we weren't too worried.  We realized on Thursday afternoon that we were in for a real treat.  Now, usually we don't have classes on Fridays, but two Fridays during the semester we have "make up days" to make up for Easter Monday and an Italian holiday in April.  Seems a little ridiculous to me, but whatever.  This Friday, February 3rd, was to be one of those make up days.  It was early evening on Thursday when we got the email...SNOW DAY!  The email carefully outlined dozens of precautions and suggestions for how to brave the storm.  It warned us to not leave the apartment unless we had to, and stock up on food and warm clothes.  What we soon learned is that it hadn't snowed in Rome for 26 years...26 YEARS.  One of the staff members was a 3rd grader when she last saw snow.  At this point, we were nervous--no class, precautionary emails...would we survive?!

Friday morning we woke up and sure enough, it was snowing.  Large, wet flakes filled the air.  We decided to do a little exploring and get a nice lunch.  By the time we got into the city, the snow had pretty much turned into a light rain.  We got burgers for lunch (missed them) and walked around for awhile longer.  I learned quickly that my "waterproof" boots were not as waterproof as I thought, and the snow soaked through 3 pairs of socks.  The total accumulation was approximately 1 inch, and the city COMPLETELY shut down.  Buses, metro, taxi, etc, all stopped running.  We had to walk about a mile to find a metro stop that was actually open.  After that excursion, it was definitely good to get back to the apartment.

On Saturday we woke up early only to find that our Naples trip had been cancelled.  We were disappointed, but it gave us more time to explore in the snow.  It had stopped falling by then, and the sun was out, so we tried exploring again.  The night before, in preparation for the Naples trip, I spent 45 minutes blow-drying my boots, so they were good to go.  Shannon and I wanted to see the Trevi Fountain covered in snow, but somehow we never made it there.  We took a wrong turn and ended up at Maria Maggiore Basilica, which is one of the four Papal basilicas (St. Peter's, St Paul's and John Lateran are the other three).  The church was gorgeous and the reflection on the snow made it pretty too.  We continued to walk and found ourselves at the Spanish Steps, so we climbed those and enjoyed a snowy view.  It was so cool to just wander the streets of Rome because you stumble upon so many awesome things.  After another long day of exploring, we headed home and got ready for the night.  Saturday night, we took a cab out because none of the public transportation was working.  My roommate Hannah asked the cab driver how much experience he had driving in snow, to which he replied "I have been driving in snow since 3PM today"...really made us feel safe.

Sunday was awesome because we got to SLEEP IN.  Sleep is very hard to come by while studying abroad, so I usually take full advantage of these opportunities.  This particular day I got out of bed at 4PM (woops).  BUT, I was glad that I got so much sleep because that night was the Superbowl!  Also, that afternoon we had gotten an email announcing that we would have ANOTHER snow day on Monday!!  Due to the time difference, the Superbowl in Italy started at 12:30, so the fact that I didn't have to drag myself out of bed for a 10am class the next day was sweet!  I got to Scholar's, the Irish Pub, around 9:30, figuring we would get a table and could get some nachos in preparation for the game.  We were wrong.  The bar was PACKED.  I saw my friend from Sundae School, Meg, at Scholar's, and she had arrived at 6PM for her table.  Aggressive.  Anyway, I snagged a seat at the bar and got ready for what became a very disappointing night.  Patriots fans were seriously outnumbered, but I did meet a couple of boys from Marblehead who I'm pretty sure were crying at the end of the night. We got home around 4, and slept in again on Monday.  Monday afternoon I went to the grocery store, and the place was empty.  They did not have a single carton of eggs or loaf of bread.  The Italians really took this one inch of snow thing seriously.  Definitely different than what I am used to back home.

Orange tree in the backyard!

Not as good as Five Guys, but pretty darn close

Santa Maria Maggiore

Piazza del Popolo

Snowy view from the Spanish Steps

That's it for now, but I will be updating all week in an attempt to catch up before spring break, which starts on Thursday.  Thanks for reading and keep checking back!!

Love,
Julie

Week Three: PARIS!

During the third week, we went to a beautiful basilica called San Clemente for our theology class.  The church is run by Irish Dominicans, so our tour guide, Father Brendan, had a lovely brogue.  The basilica was built in around 1100, in the height of the middle ages.  BUT, this church was actually built on top of another church, that had been built in the 4th century.  They didn't discover this until the 1800s, and they dug underneath the new church to discover the ruins of the old church.  We got to go downstairs and see the old ruins, and it was so cool.  The new church itself is beautiful though, with elaborate mosaics and a quaint little courtyard.

That weekend we jetted off to Paris.  Our flight was very, VERY early on Friday morning, and we got to experience the famous "Ryan Air" for the first time.  We were corralled into a small room like animals, then shuttled across the terminal to climb up the stairs to the plane.  As we were getting on, people from the previous flight were still getting off.  Needless to say, I put my coat over the headrest to avoid getting lice.  The flight wasn't too bad, but the landing was ROUGH.  When we landed, everyone on the plane clapped, and the pilot played celebratory music.  It was definitely cause for a celebration that we had made it there safely.  Since Ryan Air doesn't really fly directly into the city, we had to catch a shuttle bus into the heart of Paris.  We were dropped off at a metro stop that was in walking distance of the Arc de Triomphe.  We started to walk, and on our way stopped into a little bakery to get some bread.  We realized right away that what everyone says about Parisians is true--they don't like Americans.  My friend Kat tried to ask, in English, what was in one of the breads, and the woman replied (in perfect English) "I don't speak English, you have tot speak to me in French".  Thankfully, I had taken 6 years of French, which was just enough to say a few grammatically incorrect sentences with a brutal accent.  I got laughed at, naturally, but I guess that's better than what happened to Kat.

We finally made it to the Arc de Triomphe, and like everything else I've seen over here, it was HUGE.  No picture can do it justice.  We walked around underneath for awhile, just admiring the grandeur.  The Arc de Triomphe is at the top of the "Champs Elysees", which is a big shopping street in Paris.  As we walked along the street, we noticed that there were Irish flags flying everywhere, which was odd.  We later found out that they were actually the flag of the Ivory Coast, a former French colony in Africa.  The president of the Ivory Coast was there that weekend, smoothing out the formerly bitter relations between the two countries, and establishing a defense plan with the French President, Sarkozy.

As we continued to walk, we stumbled upon a little slice of Heaven on Earth: Laduree. This is one of the oldest tea shops, known for their famous "macarons".  I cannot even begin to describe just how delicious these things were.  My mouth is actually watering just thinking about them.  I got 5 mini ones-- pistachio, vanilla, blackberry, almond marshmallow, and chocolate.  All of them were gone in a matter of seconds.  They were hard on the outside, and soft on the inside, and absolutely melted in my mouth. Without a doubt, one of the top 5 best things I have ever consumed.

Next, we went headed towards the Louvre. The Louvre and the Place de la Concorde were beautiful.  The buildings and fences and everything were green and gold, with gorgeous fountains and plants and statues.  We were preettyy pressed for time, so unfortunately we didn't have time to wait in line 3 hours to see the Mona Lisa.  I know, embarrassing.  Hopefully I will get back there someday.  After the taking a banana nutella crepe to the face, we walked along the river to the Sainte-Chappelle Basilica.

My friend had learned about the Sainte-Chappelle Basilica in her art history class, and I'm so glad she did because otherwise we wouldn't have known about it.  It is made entirely of stained glass.  The architects had to design a special flexible paste to hold the windows together on the curved walls.  It was a sunny day, so the way the light shone through was soooo pretty.

Next, we headed to the Notre Dame.  We stopped for ice cream along the way, which was good, but not as good as Sundae School!  The Notre Dame was almost overwhelming.  It was beautiful outside and in, and the amount of people that were there was fascinating.  When I signed the guest book, I was the sixth person to sign on the page, and the first person to sign in English.  It was really moving, and awesome to know that I was in such a famous and special place to so many people.

After the Notre Dame, we walked around for awhile and did some shopping.  Paris is EXPENSIVE.  I'm glad I'm not there for the full semester.  Then we headed to our hostel, which was just north of the main city, in the Montmarte area.  We got an absolutely delicious dinner near our hostel.  I even tried duck!  It was baked in a mashed potato casserole, and it was very salty but delicious.

Since we had been up since 4am, we called it a night pretty early.  On Saturday morning, we woke up and realized it was rainy.  Typical Paris I guess.  We got a nice breakfast at our hostel, and explored our the area around us for a bit.  We made it to the Sacred Heart Basilica, which was also gorgeous.  All the churches are starting to blend together honestly, but this one was very distinct.  While we were inside, there was a group of nuns doing a prayer service, which was pretty cool to witness.  From the steps of the Basilica there is a beautiful view of Paris.  Although it was foggy, we could still see the Eiffel Tower in the distance.

Since it was rainy, we figured it was the perfect day to check out the Musee D'Orsay, which is famous for its impressionist work.  I'm honestly not a huge museum person, but this place was great.  Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh, all the stuff you learn about in school.  My friend Kat is big into art history, which is great because she can tell us about some of the paintings.  The thing that always blows me away is the amount of detail in some of these paintings.  In Renior's "Le Moulin de la Galette", there are dozens of people, each one with a totally different face. The other cool thing about a lot of the art is that up close it doesn't look like much of anything.  The way that they can just dab paint onto a canvas and make a beautiful scene is crazy to me.  We spent a large portion of the afternoon in the Musee D'Orsay, and it was very enjoyable.  But, after awhile, we were all anxious to get to the Eiffel Tower!!  Thankfully, by the time we left the museum, it had cleared up and the sun was out!

After a lot of meandering through the streets of Paris, with a stop for a banana nutella crepe along the way, we finally reached the Eiffel Tower.  HOLY COW that thing is big.  Words honestly cannot describe it.  We took a lot of pictures under it, but unfortunately the line was farrrr too long to get to the top.  I didn't mind though.  Instead, we got hot chocolate around the corner, and waited for the sun to set so we could see it lit up!!!  Right after sunset the lights went on, and every hour, on the hour, it sparkles.  We went out to take pictures of it lit up, and just as I turned away, my roommate, Shannon, SCREAMED and jumped on me.  I have never seen anyone more excited about something.  I turned around and sure enough, it was sparkling! One of the coolest things we have ever seen.

After a quick stop into Laduree for 6 more macarons (and not an ounce of regret), we headed back to our hostel.  We got another delicious dinner right nearby.  There was not a word of English on the menu, so with the help of my less than elementary French skills and Google Translate, we were able to avoid a couple of things, most notably the "young rabbit meat".  I got a salad with warm goat's cheese, and salmon in a delicious cream sauce with steamed vegetables.  Don't get me wrong, I love the food in Italy, but I LOVED the food in Paris.  It might have been one of the best parts.  We had another early night because our flight left at 9am on Sunday morning, so we went home and passed out. 

Paris is ABSOLUTELY a place that I want to go back to someday.  I know that there is so much more there that I missed, but I feel like I hit a lot of the main sights, and it was a great weekend overall.

Once again, after all of the traveling, it was nice to get back to Rome.  While I have loved everywhere I've been so far, I am so so SO glad to be able to call Rome my home.  I can get bored pretty easily, but I'm pretty sure I could live in Rome for a few years and still not see everything it has to offer.  

Arc de Triomphe

Place de la Concorde

Louvre

Sainte-Chappelle

Notre Dame

Eiffel Tower

Eiffel Tower Sparkling!!

I have a lot coming up this week, but I will keep trucking with the posts.  Things to look forward to for next post: the "Snowpocalypse" in Rome.  Stay tuned!

Better Late than Never!

Hi everyone!

So, despite the fact that I have been here for close to two months, I finally decided to start a blog.  Thankfully I get my memory from my mom, and not my dad (sorry Dad)! I guess I have quite a bit to catch up on so here goes nothing!

Rome is beautiful! I arrived on January 10th, 2012, but I feel like I have been here forever.  My apartment is two metro stops away from the main train station, Termini, which makes getting places pretty easy for the most part.  The area we are in is called Piazza Bologna.  It is definitely more of a residential area than a tourist area, so I feel like I am living the true Italian lifestyle.  My apartment is a 6 minute walk from the CEA "Global Campus", which is where all of my classes are.  I am taking Photography, Italian, Business Ethics, International Marketing and Theology.  All of my teachers are very laid back and flexible, which is a nice break from what I am used to at PC.  My program is very small (about 70 kids) but they are all very nice and friendly.

The first week we had orientation, and it was a blur.  Everyone was very overwhelmed and jet-lagged, so sitting through presentations was preeettyy tough.  On Thursday, we had a welcome lunch in Mussolini's old summer home.  The lunch was advertised as "light".  When the waiters brought out plates of mozzarella balls and prosciutto, we all ate healthy portions, thinking that was it.  We were very, very, VERY wrong.  After two more rounds of appetizers, a round of pizza, a round of pasta and dessert to top it off, we realized that despite how skinny Italians are, they can absolutely put away food.  I don't know where they hide it!  Needless to say, the Flat Belly Diet isn't exactly going to fly over here, but I can't say I'm upset about it.  Friday of orientation, our program scheduled a 3 hour walking tour of Rome.  We all strapped on our walkie talkies and earbuds and took on the main sights.  We saw the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Hadrian's Temple, Spanish Steps and Piazza Navona.  Piazza Navona was my favorite, and it is where the Bernini Four Rivers fountain is that where (SPOILER ALERT) one of the Preferati is almost drowned in the book/movie Angels and Demons.  One fun fact that we learned from our tour guide is that the fountain is so shallow it would be nearly impossible to actually drown in it.  Once orientation was over, I felt like I had a much better feel for how to get around in Rome.  As big and overwhelming as it may seem, it is really not that bad, and the public transportation (while not always reliable) is everywhere.

On Thursday, Andy Steeves, son of the famous Rick Steeves, came to talk to us about traveling and such.  That night he was hosting a quick tour of Rome, ending at a popular student restaurant, Mikki’s.  The fixed menu is 15 euros for bruschetta, two pasta dishes, pizza and dessert.  OH, and UNLIMITED wine.  Quite the deal.  With the dessert, the waiters popped a bottle of Fragolino, or strawberry wine, better known as “sexy wine”.  This is the most delicious thing I have ever tasted.  I will absolutely bring multiple bottles home so everyone can try it.

Also during orientation, one of the CEA staff took us to the nearest grocery store.  The grocery stores are very different here, so it was an eye opening experience.  Eggs are not refrigerated, you have to pay for bags, and you can’t go in the self-checkout if you have more than 10 items (learned that one the hard way).  Everything is in Italian.  The food here has no preservatives, so there are no canned vegetables or anything like that.  All fresh stuff, so it is delicious!

Classes started on Monday, January 16th.  We never have classes on Fridays, which is great for traveling purposes.  I have Italian Mon-Thurs at 10am, which, if anyone knows my tendency to sleep in, isn't that easy.  Thankfully the teacher is Italian, so 10am for him is actually 1015.  So far, I don't think the classes here will be much of an issue.  Most of the teachers understand that nothing they can teach in a classroom will stay with us as long as the experiences we have exploring Europe.

During the first week of classes, some of us took advantage of a beautiful afternoon and went to the Colosseum.  No picture can ever capture the pure enormity of it.  The thing is HUGE.  We got a guided tour, and our tour guide, Victor, was very smart and enthusiastic.  The coolest thing to me was thinking about the fact that old Roman Emperors stood on those exact stones thousands of years ago.

The weekend after the first week of classes, my program had an included overnight trip to Florence and Tuscany.  The trip lasted from Friday to Saturday afternoon, but a bunch of us opted to stay on Saturday night so we could continue to explore.  On Friday we went to San Gimignano, which is a medieval town just an hour or two outside of Florence.  The funny thing about towns like this is that people always ask what there is to do or see, but the main attraction to such towns is the town itself.  The quaint streets and alleyways are unlike anything I have ever seen in the United States.  We walked around and got lost for a few hours, just taking in the beauty of the Tuscan countryside.  The views of the hills were incredible.  We had a delicious lunch at a cute café, complete with a ciocolatta calda.  Ciocolatta calda is Italian hot chocolate, and it seriously puts American hot chocolate.  It is basically melted fudge.  We got banana flavored, so it tasted like a chocolate covered banana.  Delicious!!  After exploring a little more, we headed back to the bus and we were off to Florence!

When we got to Florence, we checked into the hotel and had a great dinner.  Once again, I ate too much pasta and didn’t have room for the additional 4 courses.  We went back to our room and got ready, and we went downtown to a few bars.  I realized very quickly that Florence is a MUCH smaller city than Rome, because the first person I saw when I walked into the bar was one of Ryan’s friends from UCONN.  AND, the kid he was hanging out with was a friend of one of my roommates.  Crazy.  THEN we went to a different bar, and the first person I saw there was one of Laura’s good friends from PC.  Such a small world.

The next morning, we got up bright and early for a walking tour of Florence.  We saw the David, the Duomo, the Neptune statue, Ponte Vecchio, and a bunch of other sights in Florence that I can’t really remember (oops).  A lot of people have said that the David is disappointing, but I thought it was spectacular.  Just like the Colosseum, no picture can do it justice.  After the tour, we were ready for lunch.  We took the lovely Danica Lynch’s advice and found her favorite panini place, Salumeria Verdi, better know as Pino’s!  A picture of Danica and some of her friends was hanging behind the cash register, right next to a picture of Pino’s family.  I can’t honestly say I’m surprised.  Anyway, Danica was right—the man makes a darn good panini.  As soon as I said I knew “Deenica”, I got VIP treatment, and I was invited behind the counter to take a picture with Pino himself.  Once we were sufficiently full, we went to the San Lorenzo leather markets.  This place is DEADLY.  Amazing quality leather, scarves, jewelry, etc. for unbeatable prices.  I fell victim to the pashmina stands for the most part, but I did also get a thin silver belt. 

After the markets, we went and checked into our hostel where we were staying since we opted to stay an extra night.  The hostel was…not the cleanest.  It was our first hostel experience, so it came as kind of a shock.  On the bright side, there was a free sangria party on Saturday nights! After we checked in, Shannon, Meghan and I climbed to the top of the Duomo.  We got to the top just as the sun was setting, and it was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my life.  When we got back to the bottom, we rewarded ourselves with an iced coffee.  Iced coffee is VERY hard to come by in Italy, so it was an extra special treat!  We got dinner and headed out for the night!

The next morning, we were rushed out of the hostel at 9am, and we were all definitely ready to get back to Rome.  We got a delicious American breakfast (eggs, French toast and hash browns) and another iced coffee, and headed to the train station. 

I absolutely loved Florence.  The whole feel of the city is so welcoming, and being able to walk everywhere is definitely a plus! I am glad it was my first big trip, but it set the bar high for the rest of my travels!  I am so excited that I get to go back with my mom, Patti, and everyone else!

So, that’s it for now, but I promise I will try to get all caught up in the next three weeks!  Also, this would have been more detailed, but it got deleted and I had to start from scratch, the worst.  So the future ones will be better!   

      

Spanish Steps

Four Rivers Fountain in Piazza Navona

Trevi Fountain

Colosseum...HUGE!

San Gimignano

Ponte Vecchio chillin 

View from the top!!