Yesterday I was prepared to sit here and write about everything I would miss and things I wouldn't. I was ready to say that I wouldn't miss hitting my head a billion times a day on the roof of my apartment, the pigeons-on-sterroids that wake me and Colleen up every morning, the cobblestone streets that are impossible to walk on, all of the people staring at me as I walk by, the rude Italians, not having a washer, dryer, oven, or cooking supplies/untensils, not being able to communicate well with people, hearing the construction in our apartment complex at all hours of the day and night, the mean checkout man at the grocery store, not being able to find the grocery store for the first day and eating only an apple, the stupid rules of Ryanair, and not being able to cook whatever I wanted. I was then going to write about how I would miss the friends I made, the beautiful sights, being able to travel to a different country every weekend, learning about the people and the culture, the food, all the locals who had helped make my stay more pleasant, and the memories I made here, which continue to make even in my hostel room the night before I leave.
I was prepared to say all of this up until last night when I was beginning to pack. Although these are things that are a pain in the butt, it suddenly hit me that they are also the things that have made this experience so worthwhile. Without going through each one of those events, I would have had a completely different journey here. These are the things that I will remember and look back on with a smile on my face. This morning when I was packed and ready to go, I sat on my bed and looked out my window at those stupid birds. I hit my head for the final time on the ridiculous ceiling. I ate a tiny bit of yogurt because I had no other food to eat. I walked to the train with all of my enormous bags, passing tons of people who didn't so much as offer a hand. These are the things I though I wouldn't miss and that I had been excited to get away from, but as they were all happening for the last time, I found myself getting choked up and nostalgic. Now that I think of it, I don't believe there will be anything I won't miss. How can I not, when everything I went through led me down the path of this amazing journey?
Italy has been an absolute dream, and I wouldn't change a thing. Not even missing my flight in Paris because I know it will make for a great story one day, and it also taught me a great lesson. All in all, I am so sad to leave. I know the tears will be flowing as I take off from the Rome airport, but I know that this great adventure had to come to an end sometime. I don't know if this journey might change my life in the future or if I will find home boring compared to all I did here, but I do know that I will never forget what an amazing experience this was.
Thank you all for reading my "postcards" and sharing this experience with me. If any of you ever come to Italy, be sure to let me know. Who knows, maybe I'll even come with you. Until then, ciao!
Cinque Terre
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Pronounced "Cheen-qua" Terre is a northern Italy vacation spot. The word "cinque" in Italian means "5", so there are 5 little towns along the cliffs and next to the ocean that are not far from each other and can be reached by hiking to each one. It is known for all of the bright colored buildings that are stunning against the turquoise water. Cinque Terre is breathtaking and trying to describe it and put it into words is nearly impossible, but I will do my best.
My friends Amanda, Stephanie and I left for the lovely coast early Friday morning but didn't arrive until 2pm because of the long train ride. We immediately decided we didn't want to waste time on this beautiful day in our hostel, so we went to two of the towns that were closer to us, Manarola and Corniglia. The sun was shining on our faces and the bikini-clad bodies that were laying at the water's edge soaking up the rays. It was so warm that we didn't need a jacket and Amanda changed into her shorts. Manarola is so beautiful, and offers the best photo opportunities of the city if you walk on the hike path away from the city. Most of the other cities didn't have a good spot to take pictures of the city itself unless you were on a boat in the ocean. The hike leading to Manarola, however, offered the most amazing view of the pink, yellow, and salmon houses and the clear, turquoise water below. It didn't seem real because it was SO beautiful. We were lucky that this was the first city we saw because it exceeded anything that I thought I would encounter on our short two-day trip.
We then hiked the 382 steps to the town of Corniglia. Corniglia is not nearly as pretty as Manarola and is super small. It also didn't have any good spots to take pictures, except for this one ledge that looked over the ocean and had cacti and flowers growing on the ocean-side of it, leading all the way down to the water. You couldn't see the city from this place though. We took a break there and ate some nutella sandwiches. We sat there for a long time and watched the sun sink below what looks like the far edge of the ocean where the world drops off.
After the sunset we made our way back to the town we were staying in (just outside of Cinque Terre) to take the bus to our hostel. This bus led us up through the mountains on a very windy road for about 20 minutes. We were all so confused as to where our hostel was, it didn't look like there was any life that high up the mountain! Sure enough, the bus dropped us off right in front of our hostel which was located in the smallest hillside town ever. There was one single restaurant that (luckily) was open. Stephanie and I went and had some pesto spaghetti and wine while Amanda went to bed. We had heard that Cinque Terre is famous for their pesto and my oh my did this dish live up to the high expectations I had. The pesto was so fresh with not much added to it. It was perfection. We headed back to the hostel to get some rest for the big day ahead of us.
Saturday morning we woke up at 7:30am (yes Mom, I woke up that early all on my own during a vacation!!) so that we would be able to get an early start on our day. Our original plan was to head to Riomaggiore, the closest town to us, take the hike called "Villa dell'Amore" (walk of love) to Corniglia where we had been the day before, and take the train from there to Vernazza. After seeing Vernazza we would make our way to Monterosso, the largest of the 5 towns with the biggest beach, and see the town and then lay in the sun all day until our train at 5pm. Well, we woke up and saw that it was raining outside. Yes, raining. Weather.com had NOT prepared us for that! It was supposed to be a nice warm weekend! Well, we sucked it up and headed to Riomaggiore in our sundresses and bathing suits. As soon as we started walking down the hill to the center of town, I slipped on the gravel and sliced my knee. It was gushing blood all over for about 10 minutes before we encountered an old man who had gone home to get me bandaids (which I bled through within an hour). It was an awful situaiton, but it was nice to have had our first look at good Italian hospitality. Even though it was raining and cold, the views were still amazing. Villa dell'Amore was beautiful. I should tell you now that this was the only hike we did because all the rest were closed because of possible mudslides or falling rocks on the sides of the hills.
When we got to Vernazza we sat by the water and took some pictures with the brightly colored kayaks and canoes by us, but not before we had changed back into our jeans and jackets from the day before. We headed to Castello Doria (an old castle with an amazing view of the town and ocean) that my "Go Italy" book had suggested seeing. We paid one euro to enter the old, yet remarkably in tact castle. We walked around, snapped some pictures, climbed to the top of the tower, and took in the sights. After spending a few good hours up there, we got on the 2 minute long train to Monterosso.
By the time we got to Monterosso, we were starving! We walked around the city and found a place to have lunch. I'm so glad we waited until then to get lunch because Monterosso had the most options for food, being the biggest town and all. We ordered what we thought was pizza, but turned out to be bruchetta! My bruchetta had tomato sauce, mozarella, and pesto on it. I never would've thought to combine tomato sauce with pesto, but it was delicious! After lunch we didn't know what to do since the weather was so terrible. I whipped out my "Go Italy" book again and we found a place called "Fast Bar" that was an American-friendly bar that has dollar bills lining the walls, signed by all the visitors who contributed to the creative wallpaper. I realized after being there that I had seen pictures of the bar in some of my friend's pictures who had been to CInque Terre before me. I was so mad that I didn't have a dollar bill to sign/contribute...I mean...who carries around dollars when they only accept euros? While sitting at the table with a margarita in hand and the futbol game blaring above on the TV screen, I found myself reading all the messages on the dollar bills. That's when I discovered the greek letters for Kappa Kappa Gamma (my sorority) etched into the wall. It was so cool to see that another Kappa sister had sat at that same spot as me years before and left her mark! Once we left the bar we decided to get the infamous Focaccia bread- yet another thing Cinque Terre is famous for! Oh. My. God. Those are the only three words that come to mind when I think about this bread. It was so plain, but so tasty! Stephanie got a regular/plain one, and I got one with onions on it. We had to catch the train right after that to come home, but I was so sad once I was on it because I wanted to go back and get more bread!
We got back to Orvieto late Saturday night safely without any mishaps. Cinque Terre was absolutely stunning, and I would suggest anyone traveling to Italy, or just Europe in general, to allow themselves 2 days on this wonderful coast. Despite our misfortune with the weather, it was still one of my favorite places I've been to in Italy, if not #1 on that list. If any of you ever visit this natural beauty, I want to hear all about it. Until then, Ciao!
My friends Amanda, Stephanie and I left for the lovely coast early Friday morning but didn't arrive until 2pm because of the long train ride. We immediately decided we didn't want to waste time on this beautiful day in our hostel, so we went to two of the towns that were closer to us, Manarola and Corniglia. The sun was shining on our faces and the bikini-clad bodies that were laying at the water's edge soaking up the rays. It was so warm that we didn't need a jacket and Amanda changed into her shorts. Manarola is so beautiful, and offers the best photo opportunities of the city if you walk on the hike path away from the city. Most of the other cities didn't have a good spot to take pictures of the city itself unless you were on a boat in the ocean. The hike leading to Manarola, however, offered the most amazing view of the pink, yellow, and salmon houses and the clear, turquoise water below. It didn't seem real because it was SO beautiful. We were lucky that this was the first city we saw because it exceeded anything that I thought I would encounter on our short two-day trip.
We then hiked the 382 steps to the town of Corniglia. Corniglia is not nearly as pretty as Manarola and is super small. It also didn't have any good spots to take pictures, except for this one ledge that looked over the ocean and had cacti and flowers growing on the ocean-side of it, leading all the way down to the water. You couldn't see the city from this place though. We took a break there and ate some nutella sandwiches. We sat there for a long time and watched the sun sink below what looks like the far edge of the ocean where the world drops off.
After the sunset we made our way back to the town we were staying in (just outside of Cinque Terre) to take the bus to our hostel. This bus led us up through the mountains on a very windy road for about 20 minutes. We were all so confused as to where our hostel was, it didn't look like there was any life that high up the mountain! Sure enough, the bus dropped us off right in front of our hostel which was located in the smallest hillside town ever. There was one single restaurant that (luckily) was open. Stephanie and I went and had some pesto spaghetti and wine while Amanda went to bed. We had heard that Cinque Terre is famous for their pesto and my oh my did this dish live up to the high expectations I had. The pesto was so fresh with not much added to it. It was perfection. We headed back to the hostel to get some rest for the big day ahead of us.
Saturday morning we woke up at 7:30am (yes Mom, I woke up that early all on my own during a vacation!!) so that we would be able to get an early start on our day. Our original plan was to head to Riomaggiore, the closest town to us, take the hike called "Villa dell'Amore" (walk of love) to Corniglia where we had been the day before, and take the train from there to Vernazza. After seeing Vernazza we would make our way to Monterosso, the largest of the 5 towns with the biggest beach, and see the town and then lay in the sun all day until our train at 5pm. Well, we woke up and saw that it was raining outside. Yes, raining. Weather.com had NOT prepared us for that! It was supposed to be a nice warm weekend! Well, we sucked it up and headed to Riomaggiore in our sundresses and bathing suits. As soon as we started walking down the hill to the center of town, I slipped on the gravel and sliced my knee. It was gushing blood all over for about 10 minutes before we encountered an old man who had gone home to get me bandaids (which I bled through within an hour). It was an awful situaiton, but it was nice to have had our first look at good Italian hospitality. Even though it was raining and cold, the views were still amazing. Villa dell'Amore was beautiful. I should tell you now that this was the only hike we did because all the rest were closed because of possible mudslides or falling rocks on the sides of the hills.
When we got to Vernazza we sat by the water and took some pictures with the brightly colored kayaks and canoes by us, but not before we had changed back into our jeans and jackets from the day before. We headed to Castello Doria (an old castle with an amazing view of the town and ocean) that my "Go Italy" book had suggested seeing. We paid one euro to enter the old, yet remarkably in tact castle. We walked around, snapped some pictures, climbed to the top of the tower, and took in the sights. After spending a few good hours up there, we got on the 2 minute long train to Monterosso.
By the time we got to Monterosso, we were starving! We walked around the city and found a place to have lunch. I'm so glad we waited until then to get lunch because Monterosso had the most options for food, being the biggest town and all. We ordered what we thought was pizza, but turned out to be bruchetta! My bruchetta had tomato sauce, mozarella, and pesto on it. I never would've thought to combine tomato sauce with pesto, but it was delicious! After lunch we didn't know what to do since the weather was so terrible. I whipped out my "Go Italy" book again and we found a place called "Fast Bar" that was an American-friendly bar that has dollar bills lining the walls, signed by all the visitors who contributed to the creative wallpaper. I realized after being there that I had seen pictures of the bar in some of my friend's pictures who had been to CInque Terre before me. I was so mad that I didn't have a dollar bill to sign/contribute...I mean...who carries around dollars when they only accept euros? While sitting at the table with a margarita in hand and the futbol game blaring above on the TV screen, I found myself reading all the messages on the dollar bills. That's when I discovered the greek letters for Kappa Kappa Gamma (my sorority) etched into the wall. It was so cool to see that another Kappa sister had sat at that same spot as me years before and left her mark! Once we left the bar we decided to get the infamous Focaccia bread- yet another thing Cinque Terre is famous for! Oh. My. God. Those are the only three words that come to mind when I think about this bread. It was so plain, but so tasty! Stephanie got a regular/plain one, and I got one with onions on it. We had to catch the train right after that to come home, but I was so sad once I was on it because I wanted to go back and get more bread!
We got back to Orvieto late Saturday night safely without any mishaps. Cinque Terre was absolutely stunning, and I would suggest anyone traveling to Italy, or just Europe in general, to allow themselves 2 days on this wonderful coast. Despite our misfortune with the weather, it was still one of my favorite places I've been to in Italy, if not #1 on that list. If any of you ever visit this natural beauty, I want to hear all about it. Until then, Ciao!
Barcelona
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Hola!
I'm not exactly sure why, but whenever someone would ask me if I wanted to study abroad in Barcelona, I always said no. I wasn't the biggest fan of taking Spanish classes, so I think that since I didn't like the learning the language, I wouldn't enjoy living in a place where they used it. BOY WAS I WRONG! A few weekends ago I went with Colleen to visit one of my best friends Ashia from the U of A. I fell in love the moment I stepped off the plane. Barcelona was amazing. Words cannot describe the feeling you got when you walked out of the airport and saw all the city lights.
The first day we were there, the weather was so warm and nice so we decided to hit the beach. Before we headed for la playa, we stopped at a Tapas restaurant for lunch. Tapas are pretty much little appetizers. The three of us ordered 5 different ones. A tomato and cheese salad, an egg omlette type thing, bread with tomatos and dressing on top, potatos with aioli sauce, and croquettes (fried deliciousness). I cannot put into words how amazing they all were! I wanted to eat them forever.
Eventually we finished up our meal and went to the beach. We layed out on the sand for hours and just soaked up the sun. It was pure bliss. When we got back to Ashia's apartment we brought chips, pico de gallo, and hummus up to the roof of her building that overlooked the city and the school next door. We sat up there for a while just relaxing and hanging out.
That night we went to an Irish pub to listen to some good music and enjoy a few beers. It was a relaxing day, which was good because we did so much the next day!
Saturday was our tourist day. First we walked down Las Ramblas (a very popular street with artists, dancers, shopping, etc.). We stopped by the food market on our walk down the street and got some chocolates, juices (fresh juice smoothies) and calzones. It was all so fresh and delicious.
As we continued to walk, we stopped by a little sidewalk cafe and shared a pitcher of Sangria (red wine that has sat with various fruits and sugar in it for hours). It was such a nice day that we all got tan while we sat and watched the street performers who would come by.
After that, we saw the Gaudi Park, which I personally think looks like a Gingerbread town. The Gaudi Park is home to the famous tunnel that was used during one of the season finale fashion shows on America's Next Top Model.
We walked to the top of the hill and had the most amazing view of Barcelona. We sat there and enjoyed a beer and the view.
Then went to a small Japanese restaurant for sushi! As some of you know, I am obsessed with shushi and have missed it SO much during my residency in Europe. We were so exhausted by the time we got back to Ashia's that we just watched the latest Harry Potter movie and fell asleep.
On Sunday we went to a infamous kebab place in Barcelona called "Bo da B's". Kebabs in Europe are not like they are in America with meat and other food on a skewer. Kababs here are more like buritos with some meat, veggies, and a variety of sauces. Bo da B's was amazing! I couldn't even finish mine because it was so massive. After that we went to see La Sagrada Familia (the famous Cathedral built by Gaudi, but unfinished because he died before the project was completed). It was beautiful! We stopped by a park across the street and had a mini photoshoot :)
After that we went to a different park (not sure of the name) and walked around. There were so many people out and about! It was great people watching.
Sunday night for dinner we went to an Italian restaurant right across from Ashia's apartment. It is so sad, but I have to admit, it was the best pasta I've had in Europe thus far! Even better than the dishes I've had in Italy- the pasta country of the world! Crazy! This restaurant was a mix-n-match type of place. You got to choose what pasta you wanted (they varied from the regular penne and spaghetti to gourmet ravioli with goat cheese and bacon) and then you got to choose the sauce (from red meat sauce to four cheese and custom pesto). I ordered the goat cheese and bacon ravioli with pine nut, sundried tomato, and cheese pesto. Unfortunately, the waiter misunderstood me and gave me my pasta with normal pesto instead. But it didn't matter because it was still delicious! I am curious as to what my correct meal would've tasted like though! I told Ashia the next time she went she had to order it and tell me how it was. Mom- you would've LOVED my pasta. I know how you love your goat cheese, and this was AMAZING!!
We stayed up all night since Collen and I had to leave at 4am to catch our 6am plane ride home. I spent the night studying and skyping with friends. It worked out perfectly because even thought it was late for us, most of my friends were on skype at that point of the afternoon in the U.S. It was sad to leave Barcelona and Ashia...I really didn't want to leave. Unfortunately, I had a quiz to take back in Orvieto and I was NOT about to miss my plane for the second time. All I can say is that Barcelona was absolutely breathtaking, and I now understand why all my friends who have ever studied there never want to leave. Ashia, our friend Lindsay, and I have been tossing around the idea of getting an apartment in Barcelona for the three of us after we graduate and moving there. It's not a very serious idea at this point, but who knows where my life will take me next! I'll let you all know how it turns out. Until then, Adios!
I'm not exactly sure why, but whenever someone would ask me if I wanted to study abroad in Barcelona, I always said no. I wasn't the biggest fan of taking Spanish classes, so I think that since I didn't like the learning the language, I wouldn't enjoy living in a place where they used it. BOY WAS I WRONG! A few weekends ago I went with Colleen to visit one of my best friends Ashia from the U of A. I fell in love the moment I stepped off the plane. Barcelona was amazing. Words cannot describe the feeling you got when you walked out of the airport and saw all the city lights.
The first day we were there, the weather was so warm and nice so we decided to hit the beach. Before we headed for la playa, we stopped at a Tapas restaurant for lunch. Tapas are pretty much little appetizers. The three of us ordered 5 different ones. A tomato and cheese salad, an egg omlette type thing, bread with tomatos and dressing on top, potatos with aioli sauce, and croquettes (fried deliciousness). I cannot put into words how amazing they all were! I wanted to eat them forever.
Eventually we finished up our meal and went to the beach. We layed out on the sand for hours and just soaked up the sun. It was pure bliss. When we got back to Ashia's apartment we brought chips, pico de gallo, and hummus up to the roof of her building that overlooked the city and the school next door. We sat up there for a while just relaxing and hanging out.
That night we went to an Irish pub to listen to some good music and enjoy a few beers. It was a relaxing day, which was good because we did so much the next day!
Saturday was our tourist day. First we walked down Las Ramblas (a very popular street with artists, dancers, shopping, etc.). We stopped by the food market on our walk down the street and got some chocolates, juices (fresh juice smoothies) and calzones. It was all so fresh and delicious.
As we continued to walk, we stopped by a little sidewalk cafe and shared a pitcher of Sangria (red wine that has sat with various fruits and sugar in it for hours). It was such a nice day that we all got tan while we sat and watched the street performers who would come by.
After that, we saw the Gaudi Park, which I personally think looks like a Gingerbread town. The Gaudi Park is home to the famous tunnel that was used during one of the season finale fashion shows on America's Next Top Model.
We walked to the top of the hill and had the most amazing view of Barcelona. We sat there and enjoyed a beer and the view.
Then went to a small Japanese restaurant for sushi! As some of you know, I am obsessed with shushi and have missed it SO much during my residency in Europe. We were so exhausted by the time we got back to Ashia's that we just watched the latest Harry Potter movie and fell asleep.
On Sunday we went to a infamous kebab place in Barcelona called "Bo da B's". Kebabs in Europe are not like they are in America with meat and other food on a skewer. Kababs here are more like buritos with some meat, veggies, and a variety of sauces. Bo da B's was amazing! I couldn't even finish mine because it was so massive. After that we went to see La Sagrada Familia (the famous Cathedral built by Gaudi, but unfinished because he died before the project was completed). It was beautiful! We stopped by a park across the street and had a mini photoshoot :)
After that we went to a different park (not sure of the name) and walked around. There were so many people out and about! It was great people watching.
Sunday night for dinner we went to an Italian restaurant right across from Ashia's apartment. It is so sad, but I have to admit, it was the best pasta I've had in Europe thus far! Even better than the dishes I've had in Italy- the pasta country of the world! Crazy! This restaurant was a mix-n-match type of place. You got to choose what pasta you wanted (they varied from the regular penne and spaghetti to gourmet ravioli with goat cheese and bacon) and then you got to choose the sauce (from red meat sauce to four cheese and custom pesto). I ordered the goat cheese and bacon ravioli with pine nut, sundried tomato, and cheese pesto. Unfortunately, the waiter misunderstood me and gave me my pasta with normal pesto instead. But it didn't matter because it was still delicious! I am curious as to what my correct meal would've tasted like though! I told Ashia the next time she went she had to order it and tell me how it was. Mom- you would've LOVED my pasta. I know how you love your goat cheese, and this was AMAZING!!
We stayed up all night since Collen and I had to leave at 4am to catch our 6am plane ride home. I spent the night studying and skyping with friends. It worked out perfectly because even thought it was late for us, most of my friends were on skype at that point of the afternoon in the U.S. It was sad to leave Barcelona and Ashia...I really didn't want to leave. Unfortunately, I had a quiz to take back in Orvieto and I was NOT about to miss my plane for the second time. All I can say is that Barcelona was absolutely breathtaking, and I now understand why all my friends who have ever studied there never want to leave. Ashia, our friend Lindsay, and I have been tossing around the idea of getting an apartment in Barcelona for the three of us after we graduate and moving there. It's not a very serious idea at this point, but who knows where my life will take me next! I'll let you all know how it turns out. Until then, Adios!
Our Adventure Home
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Our flight from Paris to Rome was scheduled to leave at 9:30 am so Colleen and I figured that if we left our hostel by 7:00 am we’d have plenty of time to get there. Oh, how wrong we were! Apparently the airport was an hour and a half away from Paris. So, not knowing this, we planned to take the metro at 7 to the spot where a shuttle would take us to the airport. Well, part of the metro was shut down and we had to take the time to figure out a new way of how to get to the shuttle station. Once we finally got there, we had missed our shuttle and the next one wasn’t leaving for another 30 minutes, which would’ve made us late. The only way we were going to make our flight was to take a cab.
Well, this cab took us an hour and 20 minutes to get to the airport, and cost us a whopping 147 euros. We were running around the airport trying to find an ATM to get money out for the cab. When we finally paid and were on our way, it was 9:00 am. Turns out, we weren’t even in the right terminal and had to spring across the parking lot to terminal 2. By the time we got there it was about 9:05 or so. The plane wasn’t actually leaving until 9:30 so we were hoping we’d still be able to make it. Well, we would’ve made it had we not missed the time to check our bags. We were 15 minutes late to check them, so the lady at customer service called her supervisor to see if we could still put them on the plane. No luck. We had to pay 100 euros each to change our flight to the next one…at 8:45 pm! Colleen and I waited out the 12 lonesome hours in this tiny airport by watching movies on her laptop. Even that didn’t make the time go by any faster.
8:45 finally rolled around and we boarded the plane and landed in Rome on schedule. We had no idea what time the last train left the train station to Orvieto, so we took a shuttle to the train station, on which I was a blubbering mess because of how terrible the trip had turned out. It was about 11:00-11:30 pm by this point. Much to our dismay, the next train to Orvieto would be leaving at 5:58 am. We had absolutely no money because of our cab fee and had no idea what to do. We couldn’t get a hotel or hostel, but apparently the airport closes at 2:00 am for cleaning, so we couldn’t stay there either. Colleen and I decided to wait it out until we got kicked out, and when that happened, we would just sit outside.
It was freezing and miserable. We were running on 3 hours of sleep in 48 hours. By the time it was 2:15, no one had kicked us out yet, but we hadn’t seen a cop in a while and didn’t want to risk it. We decided to hide out downstairs on the bottom level to get out of the wind and try to find some shelter. We found a tiny little pizza slice-sized corner where we stashed our suitcases and backpacks, and posted up for the night. We were too scared to fall asleep so we just sat there reading, listening to music and watching movies. As easy as it sounds, it was hardly that.
Luckily, we did end up seeing a policeman/security guard who definitely saw us too, but he never said anything. We also made friends with a few janitors, so that comforted us. FINALLY it was 5:00 am so we got a croissant, bought our tickets, and boarded the train to Orvieto. The two of us were delirious by this point. We got to Orvieto, but the little trolley that takes you up the hill to the actual city of Orvieto wasn’t open yet. Right then a bus pulled up and we were able to take it up the hill, pretty close to our apartment. As soon as we got home we got something to eat and went to sleep until 5:30 pm when my Dad called, asking if we were okay.
Thank God nothing bad had happened to us and we got home safely. So many things could’ve gone wrong, but I am thanking my lucky (if you can call them that) stars that not many things did. I guess everyone who goes to Europe needs to come home with some horror story of their foreign travels...
Well, this cab took us an hour and 20 minutes to get to the airport, and cost us a whopping 147 euros. We were running around the airport trying to find an ATM to get money out for the cab. When we finally paid and were on our way, it was 9:00 am. Turns out, we weren’t even in the right terminal and had to spring across the parking lot to terminal 2. By the time we got there it was about 9:05 or so. The plane wasn’t actually leaving until 9:30 so we were hoping we’d still be able to make it. Well, we would’ve made it had we not missed the time to check our bags. We were 15 minutes late to check them, so the lady at customer service called her supervisor to see if we could still put them on the plane. No luck. We had to pay 100 euros each to change our flight to the next one…at 8:45 pm! Colleen and I waited out the 12 lonesome hours in this tiny airport by watching movies on her laptop. Even that didn’t make the time go by any faster.
8:45 finally rolled around and we boarded the plane and landed in Rome on schedule. We had no idea what time the last train left the train station to Orvieto, so we took a shuttle to the train station, on which I was a blubbering mess because of how terrible the trip had turned out. It was about 11:00-11:30 pm by this point. Much to our dismay, the next train to Orvieto would be leaving at 5:58 am. We had absolutely no money because of our cab fee and had no idea what to do. We couldn’t get a hotel or hostel, but apparently the airport closes at 2:00 am for cleaning, so we couldn’t stay there either. Colleen and I decided to wait it out until we got kicked out, and when that happened, we would just sit outside.
It was freezing and miserable. We were running on 3 hours of sleep in 48 hours. By the time it was 2:15, no one had kicked us out yet, but we hadn’t seen a cop in a while and didn’t want to risk it. We decided to hide out downstairs on the bottom level to get out of the wind and try to find some shelter. We found a tiny little pizza slice-sized corner where we stashed our suitcases and backpacks, and posted up for the night. We were too scared to fall asleep so we just sat there reading, listening to music and watching movies. As easy as it sounds, it was hardly that.
Luckily, we did end up seeing a policeman/security guard who definitely saw us too, but he never said anything. We also made friends with a few janitors, so that comforted us. FINALLY it was 5:00 am so we got a croissant, bought our tickets, and boarded the train to Orvieto. The two of us were delirious by this point. We got to Orvieto, but the little trolley that takes you up the hill to the actual city of Orvieto wasn’t open yet. Right then a bus pulled up and we were able to take it up the hill, pretty close to our apartment. As soon as we got home we got something to eat and went to sleep until 5:30 pm when my Dad called, asking if we were okay.
Thank God nothing bad had happened to us and we got home safely. So many things could’ve gone wrong, but I am thanking my lucky (if you can call them that) stars that not many things did. I guess everyone who goes to Europe needs to come home with some horror story of their foreign travels...
PARIS
Our hostel in Paris was amazing! It was so modern and fun. There was a restaurant/bar downstairs, and the entire staff was really nice and helpful. It was a youth hostel so we met a lot of nice people our age. Once again, we didn’t get there until later, so it was too late to do any sightseeing. We attempted to go out to what we had heard was the big club area called Bastille Square, but the cab driver we had didn’t know where it was! We ended up just going to a really random bar but quickly giving up and heading home.
Thursday we tried to go to The Louvre museum to see the Mona Lisa, but were too late to buy tickets. Instead, we went to see the Arc de Triomphe, Champs de Elysees, and the Notre Dame! We spent a while just walking around at each of the places and taking in all our surroundings. While we were at the Arc de Triomphe, we got a glorious peek at the Eiffel Tower all lit up at night! It was so beautiful. That day was St. Patrick’s Day so we really wanted to go out and celebrate. Once again, however, we didn’t go to any clubs even though we were all dressed up, and ended up coming home.
Friday was our major tourist day. First we went back to The Louvre since we knew they closed somewhat early, but the lady at the ticket counter told us that people under the age of 26 get in free after 6:00 pm on Fridays! Score! So after we left, we went straight to the Eiffel Tower. Unfortunately, we had been there for 30 minutes before it started raining on us. We took shelter in a nearby pub and got crème brulee! It is one of my favorite desserts, so I had been so excited to try an authentic French one. It was delicious! After hanging out there for a while, we went back to The Louvre and were able to see the Mona Lisa. It is REALLY small. That’s really all I have to say about it because honestly, it wasn’t that exciting. I don’t know what all the fuss is about! After The Louvre, we made a quick stop by the Moulin Rouge to take some pictures. That night we decided to hang out at the hostel’s bar because we had a super early flight on Saturday morning to come home. Not that it mattered, because we ended up missing our flight. It was the worst experience ever, but for now, I’ll end this post as: to be continued…
Ciao!
Thursday we tried to go to The Louvre museum to see the Mona Lisa, but were too late to buy tickets. Instead, we went to see the Arc de Triomphe, Champs de Elysees, and the Notre Dame! We spent a while just walking around at each of the places and taking in all our surroundings. While we were at the Arc de Triomphe, we got a glorious peek at the Eiffel Tower all lit up at night! It was so beautiful. That day was St. Patrick’s Day so we really wanted to go out and celebrate. Once again, however, we didn’t go to any clubs even though we were all dressed up, and ended up coming home.
Friday was our major tourist day. First we went back to The Louvre since we knew they closed somewhat early, but the lady at the ticket counter told us that people under the age of 26 get in free after 6:00 pm on Fridays! Score! So after we left, we went straight to the Eiffel Tower. Unfortunately, we had been there for 30 minutes before it started raining on us. We took shelter in a nearby pub and got crème brulee! It is one of my favorite desserts, so I had been so excited to try an authentic French one. It was delicious! After hanging out there for a while, we went back to The Louvre and were able to see the Mona Lisa. It is REALLY small. That’s really all I have to say about it because honestly, it wasn’t that exciting. I don’t know what all the fuss is about! After The Louvre, we made a quick stop by the Moulin Rouge to take some pictures. That night we decided to hang out at the hostel’s bar because we had a super early flight on Saturday morning to come home. Not that it mattered, because we ended up missing our flight. It was the worst experience ever, but for now, I’ll end this post as: to be continued…
Ciao!
London
LONDON
Once we landed at our airport, we realized we were not actually in London yet, but a city nearby called Gatwick. We had to take a shuttle for 40 minutes to London, and then navigate our way through the Underground metro system and find our way to Golders Green, where our hotel was. It was dark by the time we got to our hotel but we were determined to not waste any time. We quickly called a cab and went to Leicester Square (the huge party square) to try to find a place to go that night. We ended up getting a really cool, young cab driver named Peynum who told us all the good places to go out. Of course, as soon as we got out of the cab we were harassed by club “promoters” who were trying to get us to go to their clubs. Since we didn’t actually know where to go, we ended up listening to this random guy and went to a place called Storm. What a mistake. It was terrible. Needless to say, we ended our night somewhat early and went back to the hotel.
On Sunday we visited the Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, the London Bridge, and the Tower of London. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to go inside of Westminster (closed on Sundays) and didn’t want to pay 20 pounds to get into the Tower of London. We just enjoyed ourselves and walked around all day exploring. Westminster is HUGE! I did not realize how massive it was until I was standing next to it. The London Bridge was definitely my favorite part of that day, though. It was so pretty and somewhat warm that day which made strolling across the bridge very relaxing. That night we decided to stay in so we could catch up on some much needed sleep.
On Monday we went to a famous pub for lunch called “Dirty Dick’s” and got cheeseburgers and a beer. My Dad would be so proud of me because I actually drank a dark ale, instead of a light beer! Shout out to you Dad! Monday night was our favorite night in London. We went to a club at the top of a building called “The Penthouse” which was actually the club Peynum had told us to go to in the first place. At first it wasn’t too crowded because it was a Monday night, but by the end of the night it was a ton of fun. The bouncers loved that we were from America (and especially that I was from California) and eventually let us into the VIP section! We had so much fun just dancing and goofing off. We ended up meeting two really nice boys named James and Lawrence. We hung out and danced with them until the wee hours of the morning.
Because we had been out so late the night before, we got a very late start on Tuesday. We did get to see Abbey Road, Westminster at night, and ride the metro all around London. The three of us had a blast at Abbey Road (the famous crosswalk on the cover of the Beatles album). At first we couldn’t find it, thinking it was on a small road. Boy, were we wrong. Abbey Road is so busy! Not with tourists, but with cars flying by. It took us so long to take a few pictures walking across the crosswalk because we had to wait for a break in the traffic. Eventually a nice American family showed up and offered to take a picture of all of us and we finally got our perfect picture. They also took a video of us singing “Hey Jude” while crossing. We looked like such tourists, but we didn’t care because we were having so much fun!
That night we didn’t want to go out because we wanted to wake up early to see Buckingham Palace before catching our train to Paris, but we had been dying to go to the Icebar London. We went for a 45 minute session at this Icebar. Just as you'd imagine, everything is made out of ice! The walls, seats, floors, bar, even cups! It was a really cool experience.
Wednesday morning we took the Underground, or “The Tube” as the locals call it, to Buckingham Palace. We were taking a bunch of pictures outside of the palace when a group of about 14 people riding horses started trotting down the road. Well, right in from of the palace doesn’t look like a road, but apparently it is, and can you guess who was right in the way? We were, of course. We were all so confused about which direction the horse people were trying to go that at one point the main lady yelled to Colleen, “Get out of the way! You’re gonna get MASHED”! We were all dying of laughter for a good 10 minutes. After taking a few more pictures, we got on our train that brought us from London to Paris.
"Get out of the way! You're gonna get MASHED"!
London turned out being my favorite city I've been to so far. It was also a plus that everyone spoke English and were able to understand us :) I'm contemplating finding a job there and moving!
Once we landed at our airport, we realized we were not actually in London yet, but a city nearby called Gatwick. We had to take a shuttle for 40 minutes to London, and then navigate our way through the Underground metro system and find our way to Golders Green, where our hotel was. It was dark by the time we got to our hotel but we were determined to not waste any time. We quickly called a cab and went to Leicester Square (the huge party square) to try to find a place to go that night. We ended up getting a really cool, young cab driver named Peynum who told us all the good places to go out. Of course, as soon as we got out of the cab we were harassed by club “promoters” who were trying to get us to go to their clubs. Since we didn’t actually know where to go, we ended up listening to this random guy and went to a place called Storm. What a mistake. It was terrible. Needless to say, we ended our night somewhat early and went back to the hotel.
On Sunday we visited the Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, the London Bridge, and the Tower of London. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to go inside of Westminster (closed on Sundays) and didn’t want to pay 20 pounds to get into the Tower of London. We just enjoyed ourselves and walked around all day exploring. Westminster is HUGE! I did not realize how massive it was until I was standing next to it. The London Bridge was definitely my favorite part of that day, though. It was so pretty and somewhat warm that day which made strolling across the bridge very relaxing. That night we decided to stay in so we could catch up on some much needed sleep.
On Monday we went to a famous pub for lunch called “Dirty Dick’s” and got cheeseburgers and a beer. My Dad would be so proud of me because I actually drank a dark ale, instead of a light beer! Shout out to you Dad! Monday night was our favorite night in London. We went to a club at the top of a building called “The Penthouse” which was actually the club Peynum had told us to go to in the first place. At first it wasn’t too crowded because it was a Monday night, but by the end of the night it was a ton of fun. The bouncers loved that we were from America (and especially that I was from California) and eventually let us into the VIP section! We had so much fun just dancing and goofing off. We ended up meeting two really nice boys named James and Lawrence. We hung out and danced with them until the wee hours of the morning.
Because we had been out so late the night before, we got a very late start on Tuesday. We did get to see Abbey Road, Westminster at night, and ride the metro all around London. The three of us had a blast at Abbey Road (the famous crosswalk on the cover of the Beatles album). At first we couldn’t find it, thinking it was on a small road. Boy, were we wrong. Abbey Road is so busy! Not with tourists, but with cars flying by. It took us so long to take a few pictures walking across the crosswalk because we had to wait for a break in the traffic. Eventually a nice American family showed up and offered to take a picture of all of us and we finally got our perfect picture. They also took a video of us singing “Hey Jude” while crossing. We looked like such tourists, but we didn’t care because we were having so much fun!
That night we didn’t want to go out because we wanted to wake up early to see Buckingham Palace before catching our train to Paris, but we had been dying to go to the Icebar London. We went for a 45 minute session at this Icebar. Just as you'd imagine, everything is made out of ice! The walls, seats, floors, bar, even cups! It was a really cool experience.
Wednesday morning we took the Underground, or “The Tube” as the locals call it, to Buckingham Palace. We were taking a bunch of pictures outside of the palace when a group of about 14 people riding horses started trotting down the road. Well, right in from of the palace doesn’t look like a road, but apparently it is, and can you guess who was right in the way? We were, of course. We were all so confused about which direction the horse people were trying to go that at one point the main lady yelled to Colleen, “Get out of the way! You’re gonna get MASHED”! We were all dying of laughter for a good 10 minutes. After taking a few more pictures, we got on our train that brought us from London to Paris.
"Get out of the way! You're gonna get MASHED"!
London turned out being my favorite city I've been to so far. It was also a plus that everyone spoke English and were able to understand us :) I'm contemplating finding a job there and moving!
Spring Break!
ROMA
The past week was our spring break. Colleen, her friend Brittany from home, and I traveled to Rome, London, and Paris. This week was full of some very high highs and one extreme low. But before I get ahead of myself, let me fill you in on each place separately.
On Thursday night after classes, Colleen and I took the train from Orvieto to Rome and met up with Brittany at the hotel we were staying at. Colleen and Brittany were so excited to reunite- they SCREAMED when they first saw each other! We all knew spring break was going to be great from that moment on. Since Brittany had just flown in from the U.S. we didn’t do much the first night except go see the Colosseum (which was very close to where we were staying), indulge ourselves with some gelato, and ended the night by going to a cute, but empty, bar.
The next day was when we did the major sightseeing including the Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, and walking around the shopping district. That night we were planning on going to a club called Mood, but it was closed so we made a last minute decision to try out another club called Gilda. Wow. This place was insane! First, the bouncer who let us in turned out to be from Redondo Beach- what a small world. Once we were inside we went straight to the dance floor and danced the night away. It was so much fun because they were playing a ton of American music that we loved and were able to dance to. We had so much fun that we were the last people in the club! I’m dead serious. The bouncers came up to us and told us to get out because it was a few minutes past 5:00 am and that’s when the club closed. As soon as we got home we took a little nap and woke early to catch our flight to London. That night in Rome was one of my favorite nights of Spring Break. I can’t wait to go back to Gilda.
The bouncers we met at Gilda!
At the Trevi Fountain
The past week was our spring break. Colleen, her friend Brittany from home, and I traveled to Rome, London, and Paris. This week was full of some very high highs and one extreme low. But before I get ahead of myself, let me fill you in on each place separately.
On Thursday night after classes, Colleen and I took the train from Orvieto to Rome and met up with Brittany at the hotel we were staying at. Colleen and Brittany were so excited to reunite- they SCREAMED when they first saw each other! We all knew spring break was going to be great from that moment on. Since Brittany had just flown in from the U.S. we didn’t do much the first night except go see the Colosseum (which was very close to where we were staying), indulge ourselves with some gelato, and ended the night by going to a cute, but empty, bar.
The next day was when we did the major sightseeing including the Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, and walking around the shopping district. That night we were planning on going to a club called Mood, but it was closed so we made a last minute decision to try out another club called Gilda. Wow. This place was insane! First, the bouncer who let us in turned out to be from Redondo Beach- what a small world. Once we were inside we went straight to the dance floor and danced the night away. It was so much fun because they were playing a ton of American music that we loved and were able to dance to. We had so much fun that we were the last people in the club! I’m dead serious. The bouncers came up to us and told us to get out because it was a few minutes past 5:00 am and that’s when the club closed. As soon as we got home we took a little nap and woke early to catch our flight to London. That night in Rome was one of my favorite nights of Spring Break. I can’t wait to go back to Gilda.
The bouncers we met at Gilda!
At the Trevi Fountain
Milan & Venice
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
2 weekends ago we took an overnight field trip to Milan...during FASHION WEEK!!!! We got to see a ton of fashion shows, models and stunning clothes. While we were walking around during the day, we passed teh Giorgio Armani store with tons of paparazzi outside of it. When we asked who was in there, they said "it's him, it's him!" So either Giorgio or Armani was in the store, but we didn't feel like waiting to see him and continued on our way. Colleen, Drew, Alec and I stopped for drinks at a cute cafe facing the cathedral and the main fashion tent. It was a great view. Later that day we went to a dress museum, famous for the designer's embroidery. There were about 20 dresses on display and at one point the designer himself walked in! (I didn't catch his name though). We weren't allowed to go out that night so we weren't able to experience Milan nightlife- we were all VERY upset about that. The next morning we walked through a really cool modern art museum, with tons of things to see. Some exhibits were interactive and we were able to take things from them and bring them home with us. I have to say the best part of the museum was the hat exhibit. It took up an entire story and was dedicated to hats in film. They had different rooms showing clips from movies of all the famous characters (Italian, American, French, etc.) wearing hats. It was really neat! After that museum we left for Orvieto.
A bunch of classmates and I went to Venice for the Italian Carnevale celebration. Carnevale is explained as a mix between Mardi Gras and Halloween, and is apparently the BEST in Venice, so of course, we had to go! Well. Getting to Venice that night after our classes was quite a disastor. Our train was running 10 minutes late, so when we had to switch trains in Bologna we literally has 30 seconds to sprint across the station to our new one. And of course, it had to be the furthest one away. I don't know how, but we made it just in time.
Because Carnevale in Venice is the best of the best, hotel room prices are jacked way up for the weekend. We had all decided to get 2 three person rooms but fit 6 people into each of them. We figured since it was a hotel, it would be crowded and not difficult to sneak people in. Well, we were wrong. As half of us waited in the freezing rain for the others to come get us one by one, we realized the hotel was VERY small. There was no way we'd all get to sneak in, especially since it was about 11:30pm and there wasn't anyone else in the lobby to distract the concierge. Drew, Alec, Colleen and I were on the verge of frostbite, so we decided to go into the lobby and tell the front desk we were staying at a different hotel and were coming to get our other friends. He freaked out on us and wouldn't even let us go upstairs. We had to sit in the lobby without speaking and wait for our friends to come get us. That's when we realized we were not going to have any luck sneaking in, at least not that night. Luckily, I had brought my handy-dandy "Let's Go Italy" book with me that had a bunch of hotels and hostels phone numbers in it for the major cities in Italy. We called a hostel and got a room for the four of us for 40 euros a night.
While we were walking around Venice trying to locate this hostel, it started to rain even harder. We looed like fools with no umbrellas and our suitcases trying to stay dry. After about 45 minutes of searching, the man from the hostel came and met up with us and brought us back to the hostel. Thank God he did, because there is no way we would have ever found it. It was impossible to get to. But finally we were inside our room and beginning to dry off. We asked the man if we could stay that night (Thursday) and Friday night, but he said Friday was booked. So when we woke up the next morning, I whipped out my handy-dandy book and we started calling around for a place to stay. Eventually we got a 4 person room at a hotel for 30 euros a night. Score!
We made our way to the hotel, dropped our things off, and went around to sightsee. Venice was absolutely beautiful! The famous Rialto bridge was packed with tourists, as well as the water buses. We went to the Piazza della San Marco to get masks and watch the opera performances on the stage set up there. One thing we weren't expecting was the costumes. Sure, we knew people would be dressed up like Halloween, but these costumes were insane! They were elaborate dresses from the 1800s with masks, hair done up, and tons of makeup. Most of them were so pretty, but there were a few really creepy ones.
For lunch we let ourselves splurge a little and had a sit down meal. My four cheese Gnocchi dish was AMAZING. Words cannot describe. Colleen's shrimp fettucini plate was equally good. Then to top it off Colleen and I split a slice of Tiramasu. It was the best I've ever had, and I'm sure nothing else will ever top it. After that meal we headed back to our hotel to get ready to go out that night.
Our hotel neighbor was a woman by herself, who was sleeping at 4 in the afternoon! We were talking and laughing while getting ready and she decided that she would come to our room and let herself in, yell at us that we were "not the only guests in this hotel" and that we needed to "SHUT UP"! Umm, excuse me, but it was 4pm! We weren't even being overly loud. She put a huge damper on our evening since we had to whisper in our own room just so she could take a nap. Ugh.
Once we were ready to go out we wanted to meet up with the rest of the group, so we took the water bus to their hotel, but they had already left. From there, a girl Allison talked on the phone with me for 30min directing us to where they were. When we finally got the bar they were all at, we were cold and not in very good moods. There is ONE club in Venice (this city is NOT known for their nightlife) and we went with a big group of people to it. Once we got there they were charging a 10 euro cover charge which me and Colleen did not want to pay.
By this point we just wanted to go home. Somewhere along the way we had lost Drew and Alec so we had to venture home on our own. Venice was pretty deserted at this time of night so when we would see people we would just ask them "Rialto?" and they would laugh and point to the direction we needed to go and say "keeeeeeeeeep going". After 45 minutes of walking we finally found the bridge. From there we knew how to actually get back to our hotel but it was so cold outside and we were in such bad moods. When a water taxi guy pulled up and asked if we needed a ride, we asked how much and he said 14 euros, so 7 each. In the situation we were in, it sounded like a good deal because the water bus was about 5 euros to take and we would have to wait in the cold for a long time until it came to get us. Colleen and I jumped in the taxi and 5 minutes later we were at our stop. I handed him a 20 and said "change". He looked at me and laughed. "I said 40 euros, not 14". WHAT?!?!?!?! Colleen and I freaked out on him saying that he definitely said 14, but he kept saying things like "no, I speak good English. This is my living, my work". I asked him to explain to me why a 5 minute ride was worth 40 euros, but he never gave us an explanation. I told him the 20 was all I had (I actually had 35 total, but I didn't want to give it to him). He said that it was ok and he would just walk us to our hotel, tell the concierge not to let us check out before he came back the next morning for the rest, or he could just call the police. Well after he said that, I gave him 15 more and showed him that it was literally all I had. He had 35, why would he need more? He snatched it out of my hand and told us to leave. We left early the next morning to catch our train home.
Carnevale is NOT like Mardi Gras. It is not a big party in the streets, it is just people dressed up in costumes who go to sleep at 10:00. It was nothing like what we were expecting, and got completely ripped off. All in all, it was not a successful trip. The only up side is that we got to see the beautiful city and ended up paying less than the other people despite our troubles the first night. I have also learned a VERY important lesson: always take public transportation over taxis.
Tomorrow is my last midterm and then Colleen and I are off to Rome, London, and Paris with her friend Brittany for Spring Break! I can't imagine all the fun we will have. Until then, Ciao!
A bunch of classmates and I went to Venice for the Italian Carnevale celebration. Carnevale is explained as a mix between Mardi Gras and Halloween, and is apparently the BEST in Venice, so of course, we had to go! Well. Getting to Venice that night after our classes was quite a disastor. Our train was running 10 minutes late, so when we had to switch trains in Bologna we literally has 30 seconds to sprint across the station to our new one. And of course, it had to be the furthest one away. I don't know how, but we made it just in time.
Because Carnevale in Venice is the best of the best, hotel room prices are jacked way up for the weekend. We had all decided to get 2 three person rooms but fit 6 people into each of them. We figured since it was a hotel, it would be crowded and not difficult to sneak people in. Well, we were wrong. As half of us waited in the freezing rain for the others to come get us one by one, we realized the hotel was VERY small. There was no way we'd all get to sneak in, especially since it was about 11:30pm and there wasn't anyone else in the lobby to distract the concierge. Drew, Alec, Colleen and I were on the verge of frostbite, so we decided to go into the lobby and tell the front desk we were staying at a different hotel and were coming to get our other friends. He freaked out on us and wouldn't even let us go upstairs. We had to sit in the lobby without speaking and wait for our friends to come get us. That's when we realized we were not going to have any luck sneaking in, at least not that night. Luckily, I had brought my handy-dandy "Let's Go Italy" book with me that had a bunch of hotels and hostels phone numbers in it for the major cities in Italy. We called a hostel and got a room for the four of us for 40 euros a night.
While we were walking around Venice trying to locate this hostel, it started to rain even harder. We looed like fools with no umbrellas and our suitcases trying to stay dry. After about 45 minutes of searching, the man from the hostel came and met up with us and brought us back to the hostel. Thank God he did, because there is no way we would have ever found it. It was impossible to get to. But finally we were inside our room and beginning to dry off. We asked the man if we could stay that night (Thursday) and Friday night, but he said Friday was booked. So when we woke up the next morning, I whipped out my handy-dandy book and we started calling around for a place to stay. Eventually we got a 4 person room at a hotel for 30 euros a night. Score!
We made our way to the hotel, dropped our things off, and went around to sightsee. Venice was absolutely beautiful! The famous Rialto bridge was packed with tourists, as well as the water buses. We went to the Piazza della San Marco to get masks and watch the opera performances on the stage set up there. One thing we weren't expecting was the costumes. Sure, we knew people would be dressed up like Halloween, but these costumes were insane! They were elaborate dresses from the 1800s with masks, hair done up, and tons of makeup. Most of them were so pretty, but there were a few really creepy ones.
For lunch we let ourselves splurge a little and had a sit down meal. My four cheese Gnocchi dish was AMAZING. Words cannot describe. Colleen's shrimp fettucini plate was equally good. Then to top it off Colleen and I split a slice of Tiramasu. It was the best I've ever had, and I'm sure nothing else will ever top it. After that meal we headed back to our hotel to get ready to go out that night.
Our hotel neighbor was a woman by herself, who was sleeping at 4 in the afternoon! We were talking and laughing while getting ready and she decided that she would come to our room and let herself in, yell at us that we were "not the only guests in this hotel" and that we needed to "SHUT UP"! Umm, excuse me, but it was 4pm! We weren't even being overly loud. She put a huge damper on our evening since we had to whisper in our own room just so she could take a nap. Ugh.
Once we were ready to go out we wanted to meet up with the rest of the group, so we took the water bus to their hotel, but they had already left. From there, a girl Allison talked on the phone with me for 30min directing us to where they were. When we finally got the bar they were all at, we were cold and not in very good moods. There is ONE club in Venice (this city is NOT known for their nightlife) and we went with a big group of people to it. Once we got there they were charging a 10 euro cover charge which me and Colleen did not want to pay.
By this point we just wanted to go home. Somewhere along the way we had lost Drew and Alec so we had to venture home on our own. Venice was pretty deserted at this time of night so when we would see people we would just ask them "Rialto?" and they would laugh and point to the direction we needed to go and say "keeeeeeeeeep going". After 45 minutes of walking we finally found the bridge. From there we knew how to actually get back to our hotel but it was so cold outside and we were in such bad moods. When a water taxi guy pulled up and asked if we needed a ride, we asked how much and he said 14 euros, so 7 each. In the situation we were in, it sounded like a good deal because the water bus was about 5 euros to take and we would have to wait in the cold for a long time until it came to get us. Colleen and I jumped in the taxi and 5 minutes later we were at our stop. I handed him a 20 and said "change". He looked at me and laughed. "I said 40 euros, not 14". WHAT?!?!?!?! Colleen and I freaked out on him saying that he definitely said 14, but he kept saying things like "no, I speak good English. This is my living, my work". I asked him to explain to me why a 5 minute ride was worth 40 euros, but he never gave us an explanation. I told him the 20 was all I had (I actually had 35 total, but I didn't want to give it to him). He said that it was ok and he would just walk us to our hotel, tell the concierge not to let us check out before he came back the next morning for the rest, or he could just call the police. Well after he said that, I gave him 15 more and showed him that it was literally all I had. He had 35, why would he need more? He snatched it out of my hand and told us to leave. We left early the next morning to catch our train home.
Carnevale is NOT like Mardi Gras. It is not a big party in the streets, it is just people dressed up in costumes who go to sleep at 10:00. It was nothing like what we were expecting, and got completely ripped off. All in all, it was not a successful trip. The only up side is that we got to see the beautiful city and ended up paying less than the other people despite our troubles the first night. I have also learned a VERY important lesson: always take public transportation over taxis.
Tomorrow is my last midterm and then Colleen and I are off to Rome, London, and Paris with her friend Brittany for Spring Break! I can't imagine all the fun we will have. Until then, Ciao!
Perugia, Tivoli, & Siena
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Ciao friends, sorry it has been a while!
This past weekend most of our group decided to head to Perugia (Northeast from Orvieto) for one night. We had heard the nightlife there was crazy and wanted to experience it for ourselves. We had no problem gettin there, even with the train change, but we did have quite a difficult time finding our hostel once we were in Perugia. We asked many people how to get there (even the information booth) but no one could give us good directions. We went one way after talking to a nice lady who worked at a cafe, only to be led up a hill through trees and bushes. Another lady told us to go back down the hill we had just climbed and go a different route. We must've asked 5 different people how to get there until someone finally gave us directions we were able to follow. It was weird because the hostel we were staying in is the major youth hostel of Perugia, so we were surprised no one knew how to get there. However, once we got to the driveway, it was stunning! A LONG cobblestone driveway led up to this huge hostel that looked morelike a nice hotel or mansion! We booked two rooms which were right next to each other and very clean (except for the two spiders I found above my bed....EWW)!
After getting settled in, we took the minimetro (a tiny little metro that rides tracks above the city and stops at 6 different popular locations...we all decided it looked like something out of The Jetsons) to the main part of Perugia with all the shops. It was freezing! Not just because of the temperature, but the wind was blowing like crazy, making it way colder than it should've been. We walked around for a while, ran into 5 Americans who happened to be staying in the same hostel as us, and got pizza. After we were minutes away from frostbites, we took the minimetro back to our hostel and started getting ready to go to a club called Cantiere 21. During the time it took for all 6 girls to get ready in our room, it started to get really hot. So of course, we opened the windows. BAD IDEA. Minutes after opening the window this huge bug came flying into our room, freaking all of us out. We were all screaming and running around. One girl thought it'd be a good idea to turn the light off, so it would fly back out the window. It seemed like a smart idea, but it wasn't. She said it had left, but as soon as we turned the lights back on i felt and heard it right by my head! I freaked out, running around and flailing my arms all the way to the other room. We asked one of the guys we were with to come kill it. Luckily he was able to find it and kill it. He was also the one who had killed the spiders above my bed earlier that night- my hero. After our bug scare, everyone was ready to go to Cantiere 21.
This club was in the middle of NOWEHRE! we took a cab ride there (the only way to get there) and tried to go inside right after arriving. Unfortunately for us, this club is an upscale restaurant until 12 or 1 a.m. The bouncers were going to make us wait outside for 2 hours until it was "club time". I'm not sure what happened or if the bouncer just had a change of heart, but he let us in after 10 minutes of us begging, and there was no cover charge! We were all starving by the time we got inside since we had eaten many hours before, and decided to befriend some Italians at a table right by us. A few of them left their dinner early, so me and Colleen snatched their seats. They still had 2 courses left that we got to eat! First I got a delicious pasta dish, and following that was STEAK!!!!! YAY!!!!! It was so nice to eat some red meat since we haven't bought any yet because of the price. It was so good. After that the dinner people filed out and the music started to shake the walls...aka..."Club Time"!
We danced the night away and hung out with our new American friends from the hostel. Once we tried to leave, however, the bouncers wouldn't let us. We couldn't figure out why or what they were saying. Eventually, Colleen was able to duck behind a few taller people and slip out the door. I, on the other hand, am way too tall to pull off that sort of thing and he caught me as soon as I tried to sneak out. I noticed that the people who had just left handed him a small ticket that said "exit" on it. I remembered we had been give "entrance" ones when we first came in. That's when I finally realized what he had been saying. The only way to leave the club was to go to the bar, hand them your entrance ticket, and buy a drink for 15 euros. Only then would you get the "exit" ticket. Well, that explained why there was no cover charge, but I hadn't bought a single drink and I was not about to! So I went back to my best friend the bouncer and tried to sell him this story of how I had tried to leave throught the back patio (there was one...I wasn't making it up) but the bouncer there took my ticket and sent me back inside to go out the front door. I told the bouncer I had already paid my 15 euros but the other bouncer had taken my ticket! He wasn't buying it. Time to amp up the acting. I started to get really sad, trying to get a little sympathy, when Colleen stuck her head inside (she had been waiting for me, unsure of what to do) and tried telling them that I was with her. Seeing as how she had already given them her ticket (haha, sucker!) I was clearly not lying, and the bouncer let me go! VICTORY! We were so proud of ourselves for getting 2 free courses of pasta and steak and hours of dancing, all without having to pay the 15 euros! After all that fighting with the bouncer, we went back to the hostel with some of our other roommates and called it a night.
On Sunday, our group went on a field trip to Tivoli with Alba (our beautiful director over here who is our pretend mom for the 3 months). Tivoli has two famous places: Hadrian's Villa and Villa d'Este. First we went to Hadrian's Villa. Hadrian was the old emperor who had built the villa as his official residency. To say this place is huge is an understatement. He had so many ponds, pools, buildings and houses. Anyone living in his villa back then would've been set for life. It is full of lush fields of trees, beautiful paths that snake through the grasses, and ponds completed with imitation Greek statues. Hadrian is said to have been very fond of Greek culture, so when he built his villa, he built it to resemble that of Greek structures and monuments. Walking through the ruins and hearing all the stories was amazing, but once it came to 12:30, we were all starving for lunch. We drove into town to find a place to eat.
After lunch, we went to Villa d'Este (my personal favorite). This villa was created by Ippolito d'Este, after his great disappointment of failing to become the next Pope. He took it upon himself to create the most beautiful garden. And I must say, he succeeded. This garden is the largest garden I have ever seen, filled with many fountains, including the Water Organ Fountain and many paths that wind around the grounds. Even in the winter, this place is breathtaking. There's not much I can say, so I will let the pictures speak for themselves.
Yesterday we had a field trip to Siena. I have heard from many people that it is an absolutely stunning place. Maybe it's because it reminds me of a bigger Orvieto, or because we were inside museums or cathedrals all day, but I wasn't blown away. Don't get me wrong, the city center "Piazza del Campo" is beautiful with it's slanting, circular ground in the middle of the square with tons of restaurants and shops, as well as the Town Hall surrounding it. Colleen and I really enjoyed sitting there in the sun eating our gelato during our break. But other than that Piazza, everything else seemed a bit..."been there, done that". The Duomo there looks very similar to the Orvieto Duomo on the outside, althought the Siena Duomo is much more magnificent on the inside. The streets are just like those of Orvieto, except a little bit wider and busier. I had looked up the weather before we left and it said it was supposed to be 42 degrees Farenheit, but once again, the wind made it feel much colder. I had even bundled up but my entire body was still frozen! Because of that, it was miserable if we were outside. The sun made it a little better, but it was still really cold. By the time we got on our bus to go home, all of our teeth were chattering and everyone had their scarves pulled up around their heads like turbans. Siena was beautiful though, but not as breathtaking as I had imagined it would be.
The next three weeks are going to be crazy! This weekend we have our first 2 day trip to Milan. Lucky for us, this week(end) is Milan's Women's Fashion Week! We are all going crazy finding cute stuff to wear. The following weekend is Carnivale, which is like a mix between Halloween and Mardi Gras. Pretty much, Carnivale is a weeklong party with costumes. A bunch of us are going to Venice for it, which is said to be the best place in Italy to celebrate Carnivale. The next week is our Spring Break! Colleen, her friend Brittany, and I are going to head north to London and Paris for the week. I am so excited! I've been feeling sick lately so I'm going to try and get lots of rest before and in between these crazy weeks ahead. I can't wait to share all of my adventures with you all! Until then, ciao!
This past weekend most of our group decided to head to Perugia (Northeast from Orvieto) for one night. We had heard the nightlife there was crazy and wanted to experience it for ourselves. We had no problem gettin there, even with the train change, but we did have quite a difficult time finding our hostel once we were in Perugia. We asked many people how to get there (even the information booth) but no one could give us good directions. We went one way after talking to a nice lady who worked at a cafe, only to be led up a hill through trees and bushes. Another lady told us to go back down the hill we had just climbed and go a different route. We must've asked 5 different people how to get there until someone finally gave us directions we were able to follow. It was weird because the hostel we were staying in is the major youth hostel of Perugia, so we were surprised no one knew how to get there. However, once we got to the driveway, it was stunning! A LONG cobblestone driveway led up to this huge hostel that looked morelike a nice hotel or mansion! We booked two rooms which were right next to each other and very clean (except for the two spiders I found above my bed....EWW)!
After getting settled in, we took the minimetro (a tiny little metro that rides tracks above the city and stops at 6 different popular locations...we all decided it looked like something out of The Jetsons) to the main part of Perugia with all the shops. It was freezing! Not just because of the temperature, but the wind was blowing like crazy, making it way colder than it should've been. We walked around for a while, ran into 5 Americans who happened to be staying in the same hostel as us, and got pizza. After we were minutes away from frostbites, we took the minimetro back to our hostel and started getting ready to go to a club called Cantiere 21. During the time it took for all 6 girls to get ready in our room, it started to get really hot. So of course, we opened the windows. BAD IDEA. Minutes after opening the window this huge bug came flying into our room, freaking all of us out. We were all screaming and running around. One girl thought it'd be a good idea to turn the light off, so it would fly back out the window. It seemed like a smart idea, but it wasn't. She said it had left, but as soon as we turned the lights back on i felt and heard it right by my head! I freaked out, running around and flailing my arms all the way to the other room. We asked one of the guys we were with to come kill it. Luckily he was able to find it and kill it. He was also the one who had killed the spiders above my bed earlier that night- my hero. After our bug scare, everyone was ready to go to Cantiere 21.
This club was in the middle of NOWEHRE! we took a cab ride there (the only way to get there) and tried to go inside right after arriving. Unfortunately for us, this club is an upscale restaurant until 12 or 1 a.m. The bouncers were going to make us wait outside for 2 hours until it was "club time". I'm not sure what happened or if the bouncer just had a change of heart, but he let us in after 10 minutes of us begging, and there was no cover charge! We were all starving by the time we got inside since we had eaten many hours before, and decided to befriend some Italians at a table right by us. A few of them left their dinner early, so me and Colleen snatched their seats. They still had 2 courses left that we got to eat! First I got a delicious pasta dish, and following that was STEAK!!!!! YAY!!!!! It was so nice to eat some red meat since we haven't bought any yet because of the price. It was so good. After that the dinner people filed out and the music started to shake the walls...aka..."Club Time"!
We danced the night away and hung out with our new American friends from the hostel. Once we tried to leave, however, the bouncers wouldn't let us. We couldn't figure out why or what they were saying. Eventually, Colleen was able to duck behind a few taller people and slip out the door. I, on the other hand, am way too tall to pull off that sort of thing and he caught me as soon as I tried to sneak out. I noticed that the people who had just left handed him a small ticket that said "exit" on it. I remembered we had been give "entrance" ones when we first came in. That's when I finally realized what he had been saying. The only way to leave the club was to go to the bar, hand them your entrance ticket, and buy a drink for 15 euros. Only then would you get the "exit" ticket. Well, that explained why there was no cover charge, but I hadn't bought a single drink and I was not about to! So I went back to my best friend the bouncer and tried to sell him this story of how I had tried to leave throught the back patio (there was one...I wasn't making it up) but the bouncer there took my ticket and sent me back inside to go out the front door. I told the bouncer I had already paid my 15 euros but the other bouncer had taken my ticket! He wasn't buying it. Time to amp up the acting. I started to get really sad, trying to get a little sympathy, when Colleen stuck her head inside (she had been waiting for me, unsure of what to do) and tried telling them that I was with her. Seeing as how she had already given them her ticket (haha, sucker!) I was clearly not lying, and the bouncer let me go! VICTORY! We were so proud of ourselves for getting 2 free courses of pasta and steak and hours of dancing, all without having to pay the 15 euros! After all that fighting with the bouncer, we went back to the hostel with some of our other roommates and called it a night.
On Sunday, our group went on a field trip to Tivoli with Alba (our beautiful director over here who is our pretend mom for the 3 months). Tivoli has two famous places: Hadrian's Villa and Villa d'Este. First we went to Hadrian's Villa. Hadrian was the old emperor who had built the villa as his official residency. To say this place is huge is an understatement. He had so many ponds, pools, buildings and houses. Anyone living in his villa back then would've been set for life. It is full of lush fields of trees, beautiful paths that snake through the grasses, and ponds completed with imitation Greek statues. Hadrian is said to have been very fond of Greek culture, so when he built his villa, he built it to resemble that of Greek structures and monuments. Walking through the ruins and hearing all the stories was amazing, but once it came to 12:30, we were all starving for lunch. We drove into town to find a place to eat.
After lunch, we went to Villa d'Este (my personal favorite). This villa was created by Ippolito d'Este, after his great disappointment of failing to become the next Pope. He took it upon himself to create the most beautiful garden. And I must say, he succeeded. This garden is the largest garden I have ever seen, filled with many fountains, including the Water Organ Fountain and many paths that wind around the grounds. Even in the winter, this place is breathtaking. There's not much I can say, so I will let the pictures speak for themselves.
Yesterday we had a field trip to Siena. I have heard from many people that it is an absolutely stunning place. Maybe it's because it reminds me of a bigger Orvieto, or because we were inside museums or cathedrals all day, but I wasn't blown away. Don't get me wrong, the city center "Piazza del Campo" is beautiful with it's slanting, circular ground in the middle of the square with tons of restaurants and shops, as well as the Town Hall surrounding it. Colleen and I really enjoyed sitting there in the sun eating our gelato during our break. But other than that Piazza, everything else seemed a bit..."been there, done that". The Duomo there looks very similar to the Orvieto Duomo on the outside, althought the Siena Duomo is much more magnificent on the inside. The streets are just like those of Orvieto, except a little bit wider and busier. I had looked up the weather before we left and it said it was supposed to be 42 degrees Farenheit, but once again, the wind made it feel much colder. I had even bundled up but my entire body was still frozen! Because of that, it was miserable if we were outside. The sun made it a little better, but it was still really cold. By the time we got on our bus to go home, all of our teeth were chattering and everyone had their scarves pulled up around their heads like turbans. Siena was beautiful though, but not as breathtaking as I had imagined it would be.
The next three weeks are going to be crazy! This weekend we have our first 2 day trip to Milan. Lucky for us, this week(end) is Milan's Women's Fashion Week! We are all going crazy finding cute stuff to wear. The following weekend is Carnivale, which is like a mix between Halloween and Mardi Gras. Pretty much, Carnivale is a weeklong party with costumes. A bunch of us are going to Venice for it, which is said to be the best place in Italy to celebrate Carnivale. The next week is our Spring Break! Colleen, her friend Brittany, and I are going to head north to London and Paris for the week. I am so excited! I've been feeling sick lately so I'm going to try and get lots of rest before and in between these crazy weeks ahead. I can't wait to share all of my adventures with you all! Until then, ciao!
Firenze!
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Ciao family and friends!
Yesterday we went to Florence (Firenze in Italian) on a fieldtrip. It was amazing! Rome is definitely a place for tourists, but I feel like Florence is the place to be for students. We saw so many American students and almost everyone there spoke at least a little English, which was a nice break from how it is in Orvieto.
We met at 7:30 am (YIKES) and boarded our shuttle bus that drove us 2 hours to Florence. It was freezing. I believe someone said at one time that it was 35 degrees. I had looked up the weather the day before and it said it was supposed to be 57, so none of us were really dressed accordingly. Luckily it warmed up later in the afternoon, but it was still really overcast all day.
For the first two hours we had a guided tour through the city where we walked by the Arno River, shopping markets, and multiple Piazzas. We saw the Florence Duomo, which was stunning!
Then we broke for lunch. 10 other girls and I went to a pizza place for lunch where we ordered pizzas and calzones and coronas with lime! Yes! Even though it was cold outside, it was like paradise in a glass. The owner was so friendly and quickly came over to talk to us. We learned that he had grown up as a kid in San Francisco, and one of his workers (who we later met) was from Long Beach! I told her I was from Torrance and we instantly became best friends.
After lunch we walked around the museum that was located in the Piazza della Signoria. It was SO cool, but my favorite part was when we walked into a huge room with blue walls, COVERED in gold fleur de lis. For those of you who don't know, I have been obsessed with fleur de lis since High School, and it is now the symbol of my sorority. This room was amazing.
At the end we got to see the Damien Hurst "For The Love Of God" diamond encrusted skull. It was so pretty and neat, but we weren't allowed to take pictures of it :(
After the museum we walked through a chocolate market. Every single tent had chocolate galore. We treated ourselves to strawberried with chocolate and whipped cream. Needless to say, it was delicious. After our desserts we took the bus home.
Florence was absolutely amazing, but most of us were really upset that we didn't get to go to the museum with the famous David statue. We had all just assumed we would be going there, but we didn't :( We did get to see a smaller replica outside the other museum though, so at least we got a little glimpse. I'm not sure if I will have the time or money, but I'd love to go back some time and see the real thing.
Today in class we read part of a poetry novel by Calvino. It was written in Italian (we read the translated English version) which we were told made more sense because it flowed better, but it was still beautiful in English. Here is an exceprt from the novel that was written about Orvieto. I hope it helps you paint an even better picture in your minds:
"The city does not tell its past, but contains it like the lines of a hand, written in the street corners, the window grates, the railings along the steps, the lightning rods, the flagpoles...every segment marked in turn by scratches, nicks, cuts, flourishes. I could tell you how many stairs there are in the stepped streets, what kind of arches in the porticoes, what kind of zinc plates the roofs are covered with, but I already know it would mean nothing. This is not what the city is made of- it consists of the relationship between the measurments of its space and the dangling feet of a hanged usurper".
I hope you all see the beauty in his words like I did.
Shout out to my Kidzone family! I miss you all so much! When we were at the chocolate market all I could think was how much fun the kids would have there. There were tons of kids running around, and I just wanted to have my family with me!
Until next time, ciao!
Yesterday we went to Florence (Firenze in Italian) on a fieldtrip. It was amazing! Rome is definitely a place for tourists, but I feel like Florence is the place to be for students. We saw so many American students and almost everyone there spoke at least a little English, which was a nice break from how it is in Orvieto.
We met at 7:30 am (YIKES) and boarded our shuttle bus that drove us 2 hours to Florence. It was freezing. I believe someone said at one time that it was 35 degrees. I had looked up the weather the day before and it said it was supposed to be 57, so none of us were really dressed accordingly. Luckily it warmed up later in the afternoon, but it was still really overcast all day.
For the first two hours we had a guided tour through the city where we walked by the Arno River, shopping markets, and multiple Piazzas. We saw the Florence Duomo, which was stunning!
Then we broke for lunch. 10 other girls and I went to a pizza place for lunch where we ordered pizzas and calzones and coronas with lime! Yes! Even though it was cold outside, it was like paradise in a glass. The owner was so friendly and quickly came over to talk to us. We learned that he had grown up as a kid in San Francisco, and one of his workers (who we later met) was from Long Beach! I told her I was from Torrance and we instantly became best friends.
After lunch we walked around the museum that was located in the Piazza della Signoria. It was SO cool, but my favorite part was when we walked into a huge room with blue walls, COVERED in gold fleur de lis. For those of you who don't know, I have been obsessed with fleur de lis since High School, and it is now the symbol of my sorority. This room was amazing.
At the end we got to see the Damien Hurst "For The Love Of God" diamond encrusted skull. It was so pretty and neat, but we weren't allowed to take pictures of it :(
After the museum we walked through a chocolate market. Every single tent had chocolate galore. We treated ourselves to strawberried with chocolate and whipped cream. Needless to say, it was delicious. After our desserts we took the bus home.
Florence was absolutely amazing, but most of us were really upset that we didn't get to go to the museum with the famous David statue. We had all just assumed we would be going there, but we didn't :( We did get to see a smaller replica outside the other museum though, so at least we got a little glimpse. I'm not sure if I will have the time or money, but I'd love to go back some time and see the real thing.
Today in class we read part of a poetry novel by Calvino. It was written in Italian (we read the translated English version) which we were told made more sense because it flowed better, but it was still beautiful in English. Here is an exceprt from the novel that was written about Orvieto. I hope it helps you paint an even better picture in your minds:
"The city does not tell its past, but contains it like the lines of a hand, written in the street corners, the window grates, the railings along the steps, the lightning rods, the flagpoles...every segment marked in turn by scratches, nicks, cuts, flourishes. I could tell you how many stairs there are in the stepped streets, what kind of arches in the porticoes, what kind of zinc plates the roofs are covered with, but I already know it would mean nothing. This is not what the city is made of- it consists of the relationship between the measurments of its space and the dangling feet of a hanged usurper".
I hope you all see the beauty in his words like I did.
Shout out to my Kidzone family! I miss you all so much! When we were at the chocolate market all I could think was how much fun the kids would have there. There were tons of kids running around, and I just wanted to have my family with me!
Until next time, ciao!
AMORE ROMA
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
The Vatican City
Beautiful sunset over the bridge
Spanish Steps
THE COLOSSEUM!!!!
Trevi Fountain
My favorite picture I took of the Colosseum!
Beautiful sunset over the bridge
Spanish Steps
THE COLOSSEUM!!!!
Trevi Fountain
My favorite picture I took of the Colosseum!
WHEN IN ROME
Monday, February 7, 2011
That's right! First weekend in Italy...obviously we spent it in Roma! My roommates and I, along with 16 or so others took the train late Friday night to Rome. We checked into our Hostel called "Hotel Beautiful 2". The man working at the desk was a complete creep and had no clue what was going on. He kept messing up our reservation. I will NOT be going there again! Aside from the hostel, our first hour in Rome was amazing. The train ride was easy, the hostel was easy to locate, and we went on a search for some Discotecas soon after we got situated in our rooms. Unfortunately, we didn't know that nightlife in Rome is treated like fashion week in New York; if you are not dressed in an extremely nice outfit you will be turned away from every club! It was disappointing because we all just wanted to dance, but we made our own fun and the night turned out to be interesting anyways.
On Saturday we woke up at 10am, showered, and ran out the door to go to the Colosseum! We took a cab because it was far from our hostel. The drive was fun because our cabbie was playing American music that we had never even heard before, but LOVED! Me and Colleen are already planning on downloading the songs. We didn't know what to expect of the Colosseum, but as soon as we turned left onto a street, it was standing right in front of us. It was hands down the most amazing moment of my life. I've taken many art history type classes and have spent months learning about the Colosseum. To see it just standing there in all it's brilliance was mind-blowing. I got so emotional I thought I was going to cry. It was SO BEAUTIFUL! Colleen and I were disappointed when we found out that the rest of the group didn't want to go inside of it, but we are planning on going back in a few weekends, so we're planning on seeing the inside of it then. We were all starving so we stopped for pizza on our way to the Trevi fountain. We went the wrong way once on our journey to the fountain, but quickly realized our mistake and turned around. The Trevi Fountain was gorgeous. We treated ourselves to some gelato and sat by the water while eating it. And of course, we threw a few coins in the fountain for good luck :) From there we walked to the Spanish steps, which just so happen to be by the fashion district/streets of Rome. We walked by Gucci, Jimmy Choo, Louis Vuitton, and so many more. We were all in awe of how many people we saw walking down the streets actually holding these designer name shopping bags! Wish I had that much money to go shopping with! We did eventually make our way to a store called Zara (kind of like an Italian Forever 21, but a little nicer). I let myself splurge a little and got a very cute trenchcoat that I'm obsessed with for 30 euros...a very good price I decided! After shopping, we walked to the Vatican City which is a very conservative Catholic city. We had to wait in security lines for a while and go through the whole airport security procedure. People who aren't dressed conservatively enough are turned away, but luckily all of us were dressed appropriately. We went into th basillica of the church. It was beautiful! Mass had just started so we stood and listened to some of the hymns for a little bit, and then stopped at the gift shop and got postcards.
After the Vatican we took the Metra (like a subway) back to our hostel. WHAT an interesting ride. We got our tickets and waited for it to come. I'm not 100% sure, but I'm pretty sure a man tried to pick-pocket me!!! We were standing waiting for the bus/train and i felt something at my waist. It coul've been a water bottle or something, but when I looked to my right there was a man standing there with a jacket over his arm that was kind of covering my purse. I grabbed my purse and walked away. I instantly checked my purse and my zipper was opened! I was pretty sure I had zipped it right after getting my ticket because I was so nervous about taking the Metra. I checked and everything was there still. I think I caught him right before he was going to grab my wallet, which was on top, but all of my money, passport, cameras, etc. was still in my purse. Phew! Needless to say, I held on to my purse very tightly for the rest of the day. There was some big rugby game in Rome that day because there were tons of people from Ireland repping their teams' jerseys. One stop after we were on the Metra, about 20 fans shoved themselves into our tiny car. We legitimetly couldn't move! It was so jam-packed we didn't even need to hold on because of all the bodies around us. The man with the big belly by me was being of great support. But we got home with no navigation problems, so the Metra was a huge success!
Rome was absolutely amazing!!! I can't wait to tell you all about our field trip to Florence coming up on Wednesday. Until then, ciao!
On Saturday we woke up at 10am, showered, and ran out the door to go to the Colosseum! We took a cab because it was far from our hostel. The drive was fun because our cabbie was playing American music that we had never even heard before, but LOVED! Me and Colleen are already planning on downloading the songs. We didn't know what to expect of the Colosseum, but as soon as we turned left onto a street, it was standing right in front of us. It was hands down the most amazing moment of my life. I've taken many art history type classes and have spent months learning about the Colosseum. To see it just standing there in all it's brilliance was mind-blowing. I got so emotional I thought I was going to cry. It was SO BEAUTIFUL! Colleen and I were disappointed when we found out that the rest of the group didn't want to go inside of it, but we are planning on going back in a few weekends, so we're planning on seeing the inside of it then. We were all starving so we stopped for pizza on our way to the Trevi fountain. We went the wrong way once on our journey to the fountain, but quickly realized our mistake and turned around. The Trevi Fountain was gorgeous. We treated ourselves to some gelato and sat by the water while eating it. And of course, we threw a few coins in the fountain for good luck :) From there we walked to the Spanish steps, which just so happen to be by the fashion district/streets of Rome. We walked by Gucci, Jimmy Choo, Louis Vuitton, and so many more. We were all in awe of how many people we saw walking down the streets actually holding these designer name shopping bags! Wish I had that much money to go shopping with! We did eventually make our way to a store called Zara (kind of like an Italian Forever 21, but a little nicer). I let myself splurge a little and got a very cute trenchcoat that I'm obsessed with for 30 euros...a very good price I decided! After shopping, we walked to the Vatican City which is a very conservative Catholic city. We had to wait in security lines for a while and go through the whole airport security procedure. People who aren't dressed conservatively enough are turned away, but luckily all of us were dressed appropriately. We went into th basillica of the church. It was beautiful! Mass had just started so we stood and listened to some of the hymns for a little bit, and then stopped at the gift shop and got postcards.
After the Vatican we took the Metra (like a subway) back to our hostel. WHAT an interesting ride. We got our tickets and waited for it to come. I'm not 100% sure, but I'm pretty sure a man tried to pick-pocket me!!! We were standing waiting for the bus/train and i felt something at my waist. It coul've been a water bottle or something, but when I looked to my right there was a man standing there with a jacket over his arm that was kind of covering my purse. I grabbed my purse and walked away. I instantly checked my purse and my zipper was opened! I was pretty sure I had zipped it right after getting my ticket because I was so nervous about taking the Metra. I checked and everything was there still. I think I caught him right before he was going to grab my wallet, which was on top, but all of my money, passport, cameras, etc. was still in my purse. Phew! Needless to say, I held on to my purse very tightly for the rest of the day. There was some big rugby game in Rome that day because there were tons of people from Ireland repping their teams' jerseys. One stop after we were on the Metra, about 20 fans shoved themselves into our tiny car. We legitimetly couldn't move! It was so jam-packed we didn't even need to hold on because of all the bodies around us. The man with the big belly by me was being of great support. But we got home with no navigation problems, so the Metra was a huge success!
Rome was absolutely amazing!!! I can't wait to tell you all about our field trip to Florence coming up on Wednesday. Until then, ciao!
More Pictures!
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Family Dinner third course: dessert: mascarpone
Family Dinner, second course: veggie lasagna
Family Dinner Saturday, first course: assorted appetizers: meat, bread, cheese, and artichoke
the view from the top was worth it
LONGEST STAIRWELL EVER to the top of the clocktower!!!! it was the hardest stair workout any of us have ever gotten!
walking through the underground tunnels
the most amazing pizza i've ever had: ricotta, mozarella, cream of truffle, bacon, and italian sausage :)
Family Dinner, second course: veggie lasagna
Family Dinner Saturday, first course: assorted appetizers: meat, bread, cheese, and artichoke
the view from the top was worth it
LONGEST STAIRWELL EVER to the top of the clocktower!!!! it was the hardest stair workout any of us have ever gotten!
walking through the underground tunnels
the most amazing pizza i've ever had: ricotta, mozarella, cream of truffle, bacon, and italian sausage :)
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Here are some pictures of my adventures!
Where I write all my blog entries at Montanucci Internet Cafe!
My hobbit house....Megan in Wonderland???
My FAVORITE street :)
My Street: Via del Popolo, 39
BEAUTIFUL Duomo Cathedral right next to my school!
The backyard of my apartment, overlooking the beautiful countryside below!
More pictures to come when I'm not running off to my tour of the underground city of Orvieto!
Where I write all my blog entries at Montanucci Internet Cafe!
My hobbit house....Megan in Wonderland???
My FAVORITE street :)
My Street: Via del Popolo, 39
BEAUTIFUL Duomo Cathedral right next to my school!
The backyard of my apartment, overlooking the beautiful countryside below!
More pictures to come when I'm not running off to my tour of the underground city of Orvieto!
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