Over the weekend, I went on the school trip to Interlaken, Switzerland. We left Thursday afternoon and got back Sunday evening. Unfortunately when you go with the school, you take a bus. Our bus ride there took almost 10 hours and then it was about 9 hours to get back here. Oh well- we found ways to keep entertained and were able to see parts of the world we'd miss if we were flying over.
Alright, so we arrived in Interlaken and immediately passed out. We stayed at Backpackers Villa Sonnenhof, which was a really nice hostel that was decked out in IKEA goods. Sleep was necessary because we were waking up on Friday to paraglide! The idea of paragliding never even crossed my mind before doing some research on Interlaken. This city is full of extreme sports and they cater well to us students (5% off for being from GU!) Anyways, we woke up on Friday, printed out our ticket, got picked up by the Paragliding company, and off we went! Nicole, Birttany, Emily, Erika, and I were ready for our 9:45 departure. We first had to pick up our appropriate shoes and (bright red) pants before driving up the mountain. Once we got to the top we put on some more gear and hiked out to the place where we would be taking off from. We literally had to run down a steep hill as the parachute picked us up. My guide and I started running at the same time as Erika and her guide, so we had to stop, which made out take off a little more difficult because the parachute got a bit tangled, but we were just fine. Flying over the mountains and seeing the two lakes on either side of the city was incredible and probably the most surreal experience ever! It was incredible and I've never done anything like it. We got to do some tricks in the air and I declined the offer to steer because I couldn't feel my fingers and I had a death grip on the handle. Dominik got us to the ground safely where we were greeted by AJ, Joe, and Mary!
After paragliding, we went changed, explored the downtown, and then Brittany and I decided to take a bus to see one of the lakes. This trip was a fail since he sold her a roundtrip ticket that gave us 5 minutes to see the lake through some trees and home. We weren't near any water access, so we had to get back on the bus so we wouldn't have a ticket that wasn't valid. Oh well. I was exhausted and took a nap before Mary got back from her canyon jumping experience. Once she got back, we explored a different part of town and found an awesome view from the balcony of a nearby hotel. It was incredible to see the sunset over the mountains! We made it back to the hotel just in time to put on about 239438 more layers for night sledding. I have to admit I was NOT looking forward to doing this. I thought we'd have no control over our sleds and sent down the mountains by ourself. Luckily this was not the case. After we waited in the cold for a half hour, the gondola took us up to the top of the mountain with our sleds. We were given a short safety talk and demonstration and we were relieved to find out that we'd be going down as a big group. Everyone had glow sticks on their backs so you wouldn't crash into anyone because the track was completely dark besides the light from the stars! It was incredible when you were on your own for a bit because it was you, the Alps, the stars, and your little plastic sled. Once we got to the bottom, it was time for a group fondue dinner! We had salad with dressing other than olive oil and balsamic vinegar, a hash brown and chicken plate, and cheese fondue! YUM. We were all pretty hungry after that because they weren't the most generous portions and we were all hoping for some chocolate fondue. After dinner, showers and sleep were the only thing on our minds!
On Saturday, we went to Bern, which is the capital of Switzerland and the 4th most populated city in the country. It was way more metropolitan that I anticipated, but it was fun and interesting to see a completely new side of Switzerland away from the mountains. We got a nice walking tour of the city, Indian food for lunch, spent too much on mediocre Starbucks drinks and a mug, and then explored the city. Five of us walked around with a professor hoping to find some Swiss chocolate- too bad the one we found was way overpriced, but the teacher was nice enough to buy us some chocolate covered hazelnuts. After that, Mary and I walked around the market looking at all the specialty items and foods they were selling. It all smelled and looked so good! After Bern, we met up with Sarah who had paraglided earlier that day and we explored yet another part of the town. We bought Swiss Army knives for ourselves, friends, and families, and the man who owned the store was so nice that he gave us little Swiss bells. We had a 2.5 hour dinner with salad, soo much cheese fondue, and outstanding chocolate fondue with a bunch of different fruits to dip in it. After dinner, we played some Bananagrams and called it a night- it was another exhausting weekend! We also had to get some sleep so we could walk up to see the sunrise the next morning!
We woke up at 7 am, layered up, and walked toward the lake. Sunrise was scheduled for 7:55, but it was bit too foggy to see it, but it was neat to see the whole sky get brighter and brighter as we were there taking pictures and skipping rocks. It was one of most gorgeous places I have ever been in my life!
The 9 hour bus ride back was made better by watching Ice Age. It was pretty great that 50+ 20ish year olds were loving watching that movie! Well back in Florence all week and weekend!
Monday, January 31, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
Prague!
After the long wait at the airport, I was in line to board my flight to Zurich and met a guy from my rival high school! He's here on the Stanford program (along with a girl from my Elementary school and a girl I met on my plane ride into Florence 3 weeks ago) and lives about 2 blocks from my school. I've learned two more things: This world really is too small and you can NEVER escape the Bay Area.
Anyways, I got on the plane, enjoyed decent airplane food, and free Swiss chocolate (Thanks Swiss Airlines!). Once we made it to Zurich, Adrian (my new friend from Stanford) took me to an awesome chocolate shop at the airport where I dropped about $20 on some luxurious Swiss chocolate. When in Zurich... The champagne truffle actually tasted like chocolate and was phenomenal. After that, I was Prague bound! We landed about 10 minutes late, I navigated my way out of the airport, bought my public transportation pass, hoped on the right bus, validated my ticket, got off at the stop, followed a herd of people to the metro, got off at the right metro stop, got directions, got lost, got directions, got lost, got directions, and made it to the hostel only to be welcomed by our group and told to get ready fast because we were leaving in 10 minutes to make it to our pub crawl (in the snow)! The Pub Crawl was SOO fun. We stayed at our meeting place for about 45 minutes and got to try a bunch of drinks there, made our way to the next bar, then the next, and the next, and finally made it to the 5 story club right on the river! It was such a blast and we met incredible people from all over the world!
It was easy to get out of bed on Saturday knowing that we were going to get STARBUCKS. 3 weeks in and we were ready for our Iced Grande Caramel Macchiatos with extra caramel :) I don't think I've ever savored a sip more or taken that man pictures of a single beverage. It was basically bliss and was a perfect way to start off the day! We were there for an hour waiting for the boys and basking in Starbucks goodness. They finally made it there and we headed out to explore Prague! Except we got derailed by the abundance of souvenir shops we were passing. We all ended up buying a lot before we had even seen one important sight! Oh well at least we knew what to look for? I bought some garnet earrings not only because they were on sale, but because garnet is sold all over the Czech Republic and very special to them! After we bought out the shops, we kept walking (and shopping some more) and loving Prague and how it felt like a little fantasy land with all of the fun buildings. We ended up going to the National Museum that was full of art, stuffed animals, and rocks, and a special display that we couldn't figure out due to lack of English translation... After that we headed toward the Charles Bridge, found the Lennon Wall, had a HUGE dinner (we were all soooo hungry and cranky at that point), walked around the Prague Castle at night and got an awesome view of the city, and made our way back to our hostel for an early night.
We headed out early to make our way home to Florence. After being out of Italy for a few days, we appreciated eating a different type of food and not being looked down on just because we were wearing something with a North Face logo. Prague was such a mix of cultures and accepting of Americans, which was refreshing! Western Europe is a bit more full of itself (I know you agree), so we enjoyed experiencing the Central Europe hospitality. All in all, I loved Prague and want to go back (its such a romantic city and we definitely needed one more day!!)
Here's a little look:
Anyways, I got on the plane, enjoyed decent airplane food, and free Swiss chocolate (Thanks Swiss Airlines!). Once we made it to Zurich, Adrian (my new friend from Stanford) took me to an awesome chocolate shop at the airport where I dropped about $20 on some luxurious Swiss chocolate. When in Zurich... The champagne truffle actually tasted like chocolate and was phenomenal. After that, I was Prague bound! We landed about 10 minutes late, I navigated my way out of the airport, bought my public transportation pass, hoped on the right bus, validated my ticket, got off at the stop, followed a herd of people to the metro, got off at the right metro stop, got directions, got lost, got directions, got lost, got directions, and made it to the hostel only to be welcomed by our group and told to get ready fast because we were leaving in 10 minutes to make it to our pub crawl (in the snow)! The Pub Crawl was SOO fun. We stayed at our meeting place for about 45 minutes and got to try a bunch of drinks there, made our way to the next bar, then the next, and the next, and finally made it to the 5 story club right on the river! It was such a blast and we met incredible people from all over the world!
It was easy to get out of bed on Saturday knowing that we were going to get STARBUCKS. 3 weeks in and we were ready for our Iced Grande Caramel Macchiatos with extra caramel :) I don't think I've ever savored a sip more or taken that man pictures of a single beverage. It was basically bliss and was a perfect way to start off the day! We were there for an hour waiting for the boys and basking in Starbucks goodness. They finally made it there and we headed out to explore Prague! Except we got derailed by the abundance of souvenir shops we were passing. We all ended up buying a lot before we had even seen one important sight! Oh well at least we knew what to look for? I bought some garnet earrings not only because they were on sale, but because garnet is sold all over the Czech Republic and very special to them! After we bought out the shops, we kept walking (and shopping some more) and loving Prague and how it felt like a little fantasy land with all of the fun buildings. We ended up going to the National Museum that was full of art, stuffed animals, and rocks, and a special display that we couldn't figure out due to lack of English translation... After that we headed toward the Charles Bridge, found the Lennon Wall, had a HUGE dinner (we were all soooo hungry and cranky at that point), walked around the Prague Castle at night and got an awesome view of the city, and made our way back to our hostel for an early night.
We headed out early to make our way home to Florence. After being out of Italy for a few days, we appreciated eating a different type of food and not being looked down on just because we were wearing something with a North Face logo. Prague was such a mix of cultures and accepting of Americans, which was refreshing! Western Europe is a bit more full of itself (I know you agree), so we enjoyed experiencing the Central Europe hospitality. All in all, I loved Prague and want to go back (its such a romantic city and we definitely needed one more day!!)
Here's a little look:
Friday, January 21, 2011
Another week of experiences!
Yesterday after class, I wondered down to the ATM at the Duomo and took my time getting home by stopping at some little spots I commonly looked over. I found one paper shop that makes beautiful gift wrap, journals, cards, ect. I looked around and everything was a bit pricey. Then I noticed one of the owners giving a demonstration of how they color the paper using a method from the 18th century with wallpaper glue and watered down acrylic paint. It was incredible seeing what he could do so quickly! We chatted a bit afterwards and he told me to come back to the shop so I could try to make my own paper because he wanted to help make my experience is Florence "even more beautiful". I'm so looking forward to coming back (and putting the discount card he gave me to good use!)
Later that evening after an extemely leisurely afternoon, a group of 24 students met at school to go a cooking class across the river at inTavola. Our group of 6 made tiramisu, zucchini parmasean, and a chicken/ham/cheese dish wrapped in lettuce and cooked in sage, butter, and olive oil. We got the recipes, so I am excited to give them another shot when I get home! They were all delicious and simple! Its nice to see what pride the cooks took in their creations and how joyful they were to share their knowldge with us.
As I am writing this, I am currently sitting in an airport cafe in Florence. I have been here since 7 am and will be flying out to Zurich then Prague in about 3 hours. As organized as I am, I made a dumb, dumb mistake and booked the wrong flight out this morning. The rest of the group left about 2 hours ago and I am here getting aquainted with the Florence airport (bear in mind its like half the size of Spokane's airport). I can only tempt myself with duty free shopping for so long... As sucky (sorry, really the only word that fits) as this little situation is, its pretty amazing to be having Molly time in Europe. Not just because alone time doesn't exist here (even though that's how it feels), its just liberating to take on independent travel in foreign countries. I will soon be leaving for Zurich to get my flight to Prague. In Prague, I'm going to take on the Czech public transportation system and when I make it and find my friends and hostel, VORREI UNA BIRRA GRANDE, PER FAVORE!
Ciao Ciao!
Later that evening after an extemely leisurely afternoon, a group of 24 students met at school to go a cooking class across the river at inTavola. Our group of 6 made tiramisu, zucchini parmasean, and a chicken/ham/cheese dish wrapped in lettuce and cooked in sage, butter, and olive oil. We got the recipes, so I am excited to give them another shot when I get home! They were all delicious and simple! Its nice to see what pride the cooks took in their creations and how joyful they were to share their knowldge with us.
As I am writing this, I am currently sitting in an airport cafe in Florence. I have been here since 7 am and will be flying out to Zurich then Prague in about 3 hours. As organized as I am, I made a dumb, dumb mistake and booked the wrong flight out this morning. The rest of the group left about 2 hours ago and I am here getting aquainted with the Florence airport (bear in mind its like half the size of Spokane's airport). I can only tempt myself with duty free shopping for so long... As sucky (sorry, really the only word that fits) as this little situation is, its pretty amazing to be having Molly time in Europe. Not just because alone time doesn't exist here (even though that's how it feels), its just liberating to take on independent travel in foreign countries. I will soon be leaving for Zurich to get my flight to Prague. In Prague, I'm going to take on the Czech public transportation system and when I make it and find my friends and hostel, VORREI UNA BIRRA GRANDE, PER FAVORE!
Ciao Ciao!
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Mailing Address
Here is my address while in Florence! (Hint... hint... hint!)
Molly Johnston
Gonzaga in Florence
Via Giorgia la Pira 11/13
50121 Florence, Italy
Molly Johnston
Gonzaga in Florence
Via Giorgia la Pira 11/13
50121 Florence, Italy
Monday, January 17, 2011
When in Florence.... Try anything!
Last night, I added the class History and Culture of Italian Food. It meets Monday and Wednesday nights and I have a few friends in the class. All I can say is that class is easily one of the better decisions of the semester thus far. I couldn't have signed up at a better time because today, the class started off by the professor pointing out some good gelato and panini spots, taking us inside some restaurants, telling us about some of the city history with food, and then a chocolate tasting. We went inside Vestri, which has officially changed my life as far as chocolate is concerned. Please if you are EVER in Florence, go here! We tasted chocolate covered hazelnuts, orange flavored chocolates (one made with Sicilian oranges and another with an orange liqueur), a truffle with crushed hazelnuts, a milk chocolate with local crushed Almonds, chili pepper chocolate, as well as some of their hot chocolate that had chili powder and cinnamon in it. It was all to die for. Let's just say I know exactly where I will be going on Valentine's Day! After the delectable chocolate tasting, we stopped by a street vendor, who sold tripe along with many other types of sandwiches and dishes. This sort of place is called a "trippai". He was nice enough to let us all try tripe and two of the other specialty dishes he sold there. Never once did I EVER in a million years thing I would try tripe. I remember my dad ordering it whenever possible or cooking it at our house and making the whole place smell like armpit or something. Luckily it came in a nice red sauce and plenty of bread to go with it because the texture of that was absolutely foul! Then we got to try the Lampredotto, which is the lining of the cow's 4th stomach, and someone thought it would be hilarious to tell us it was the colon of the cow as we were chewing it. Luckily it too was covered in a good sauce, had a slightly better texture, came with a lot of bread, and we were also given free wine to accompany it. The 3rd dish we had was more just meat and it came in a sauce with parsley and lots of salt that tasted like it belonged on seafood. That was actually really tasty and would probably be the only thing I would come back there for.
Needless to say, today was a day of firsts and I am so glad I jumped into the class and the experiences it provided. When in Florence...
Needless to say, today was a day of firsts and I am so glad I jumped into the class and the experiences it provided. When in Florence...
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Weekend in Florence!
Well we all survived Week One of classes and it is looking like it is going to be an enjoyable semester with plenty of time to explore, travel, and enjoy Florence/Europe. On Thursday, Sarah and I enjoyed strolling around the city after lunch, even though I felt like I couldn't move due to my massive food baby. Nope, I take that back... Food twins. The meals here are a little different- small breakfast (some sort of cereal, fruit, and maybe a piece of toast and hard boiled egg), HUGE 3 course lunch (salad, pasta of some sort, and a meat/veggies course). Our pensione owners sure can cook and it is rare for us to not clear off our plates entirely! After exploring for a bit, we went towards the Ponte Vecchio and found such a good gelato place- their Chocolate Mousse flavor was out of this world amazing. Thursday night, we explored the Florence night life, enjoyed 1 Euro boxed wine (not as bad as it sounds, but it's really not good at all) and went to the Lion's Fountain, which is a very American bar here. There are college t-shirts all over the ceiling (Apparently there was a Gonzaga shirt up there, but someone ripped it in the past. Looks like some Zags were making us look bad..)
Friday: Fiesole!
One Friday morning, we took the city bus up to Fiesole (a small hill town city overlooking Florence). It is cute and quaint. We wandered through the town, saw some Etruscan ruins, and found a nice outdoor restaurant for lunch since it was so nice and sunny! Unfortunately, you couldn't see Florence that well from the view points due to fog/haze over the city. We got our cappacinos overlooking some more Etruscan ruins. Then as we were ready to leave, we were unable to get our bus tickets because the office was closed (silly Italians and their view on time...). After waiting a half hour, we literally walked for about 2 minutes and found one that was open... Oh well it was pretty funny. After that, we all came back to Florence, had a lazy afternoon, and then went to Gusta Pizza, which is SOOO delicious and you can get a good sized Margherita pizza for 5 Euro. It's across the Ponte Vecchio and a little hole in the wall of delciousness. After that, we were on a quest for gelato- too bad all of the reliable/cheap places that the year students relied on are closed until February. Oh well because of that we ended up at Grom Gelato, which is also SOO good. It is a chain here and their gelato is made from all natural ingredients. I got chocolate and tiramissu (their flavor of the month). After gelato, we wandered around the Duomo and saw that a clothing store was having an opening party, so we let ourselves in and sipped on free Champagne and Mojitos on the sidewalk next to the Bapistry. Sweet life. We went back to Gallo d'Oro and enjoyed a relaxing evening.
Saturday: Siena
On the plane to Florence, I met a sophomore from New Jersey who was going to be studying in Siena. We hit it off and chit chatted for the entire flight, exchanged full names, and found each other on Facebook. Lucky for me, we were able to meet up and he was willing to show us around Siena this weekend! It was awesome to have a connection like that and have our own personal tour guide of Siena. We enjoyed the day and the sun- I think we all even got a little sunburnt! Once we got back, we freshened up, got dinner, and went out and enjoyed the Florentine night life. Needless to say, we had quite a fun time.
Sunday: Shopping and Service and Supper!
Sundays are a day to relax and we did just that. After catching up on a lot of sleep, we took on the sales in the city and headed to H&M doing considerable damage to our credit cards. Oh well- fashion is kind of a big deal here we have to try a bit harder.
Alright off to Service and Supper (Church on campus and a cheap dinner with everyone!) I'm excited to see how it is and hopefully make it a regular thing. Then we're off to Astor to watch part of the Seattle Seahawks game!
Most used word in this post? Gelato.
Friday: Fiesole!
One Friday morning, we took the city bus up to Fiesole (a small hill town city overlooking Florence). It is cute and quaint. We wandered through the town, saw some Etruscan ruins, and found a nice outdoor restaurant for lunch since it was so nice and sunny! Unfortunately, you couldn't see Florence that well from the view points due to fog/haze over the city. We got our cappacinos overlooking some more Etruscan ruins. Then as we were ready to leave, we were unable to get our bus tickets because the office was closed (silly Italians and their view on time...). After waiting a half hour, we literally walked for about 2 minutes and found one that was open... Oh well it was pretty funny. After that, we all came back to Florence, had a lazy afternoon, and then went to Gusta Pizza, which is SOOO delicious and you can get a good sized Margherita pizza for 5 Euro. It's across the Ponte Vecchio and a little hole in the wall of delciousness. After that, we were on a quest for gelato- too bad all of the reliable/cheap places that the year students relied on are closed until February. Oh well because of that we ended up at Grom Gelato, which is also SOO good. It is a chain here and their gelato is made from all natural ingredients. I got chocolate and tiramissu (their flavor of the month). After gelato, we wandered around the Duomo and saw that a clothing store was having an opening party, so we let ourselves in and sipped on free Champagne and Mojitos on the sidewalk next to the Bapistry. Sweet life. We went back to Gallo d'Oro and enjoyed a relaxing evening.
Saturday: Siena
On the plane to Florence, I met a sophomore from New Jersey who was going to be studying in Siena. We hit it off and chit chatted for the entire flight, exchanged full names, and found each other on Facebook. Lucky for me, we were able to meet up and he was willing to show us around Siena this weekend! It was awesome to have a connection like that and have our own personal tour guide of Siena. We enjoyed the day and the sun- I think we all even got a little sunburnt! Once we got back, we freshened up, got dinner, and went out and enjoyed the Florentine night life. Needless to say, we had quite a fun time.
Sunday: Shopping and Service and Supper!
Sundays are a day to relax and we did just that. After catching up on a lot of sleep, we took on the sales in the city and headed to H&M doing considerable damage to our credit cards. Oh well- fashion is kind of a big deal here we have to try a bit harder.
Alright off to Service and Supper (Church on campus and a cheap dinner with everyone!) I'm excited to see how it is and hopefully make it a regular thing. Then we're off to Astor to watch part of the Seattle Seahawks game!
Most used word in this post? Gelato.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Note to self: Don't forget to look up, down, right, or left.
If there is one thing I have learned since getting to Italy, don't forget to look up, down, right, or left! Everywhere I go and every turn I take, there is something new to see and explore. During this week of classes, I made an effort to explore the city (taking a new route each time) after/between classes. Considering the fact that the Duomo is about 4 blocks away from campus, I feel like I have no excuse, but to learn as much about this place as possible! In museums, don't forget to look down at the floors (there just might be an incredible mosaic!) and up at ceilings (there just might be a gorgeous fresco painting covering it). When walking around, look in every single direction- you never know what you might miss! Here are just a few examples:
Rome and first week of classes
Our Opening Tour was in Rome from Thursday to Sunday.
We all got on a bus down to Rome and checked into our hotels. We were all pretty jet lagged and just wanted to sleep, but we got a second wind and took our our first day in Rome. One of the faulty members took a big group of us to an amazing gelato place near the Pantheon where I ordered the most delicious flavor, Black Passion (basically just dark chocolate with raspberries mixed in). After that a Jesuit priest took us on a little walking tour around the area near out hotel. Unfortunately (and Fortunately), it was the Epiphany celebration in the city, so it was extremely crowded and exciting! It was very difficult to navigate a plaza full of people, while trying to stay with our group. After we finished that tour, it was time to embark on a 3 hour walking town of the entire city. Wow. Lots of walking, but an amazing look at the city and sights at night. Once the tour was done, we had a dinner with the entire group, so about 100 people, at a very nice restaurant in Piazza Popolo. The food was to die for and people were not complaining too much about the flowing house wine that was part of our dinner. After dinner, we made out way to a plaza near the hotel with some fun bars, made some American friends, and explored the Roman nightlife, but felt more like a herd of freshman wandering the Logan neighborhood. Finally, we ended up at the Bulldog, an Irish Pup that was across the street from the hotel, and called it a night.
The next morning we woke up for a tour of Rome led by the Jesuit priest to see where he lived and what Jesuit live was like there. We also got to see some Jesuit churches and sights that were off the beaten path and would not have been exposed to. We had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe then headed to the Villa Borghese to see some gorgeous art work. At that point, we were tired, gumpy, and not very hungry, so we got a light dinner, stopped by the Bulldog to get some coffee and went to bed early.
On the third day of Opening Tour, we toured the Vatican Museum and St. Peter's Basilica. The Sistine Chapel was much more interesting the second time around because I learned more about the meaning, style, and medium involved. After our tour, we found one of he best pizza places ever and 1 euro bottles of water- those are hard to find! Everyone was ready to climb to the top of the basilica, but the line was long and we didn't want to pay, so we decided to make our way across the city to get to the Colosseum. We finally arrived there after walking all over and exploring the metro only to find that it had closed a good hour before we got there. Too bad we sacrificed the view of Rome from St. Peter's for that, but the exterior of the Colosseum was awesome and it made for a fun adventure. Later that night we had another dinner with the whole group and the house wine was flowing faster then before.
We woke up to go a tour of a nearby castle with a gorgeous view of the city. Afterwards, we headed to the Vatican to get blessed by the Pope, which as one can imagine, was a pretty surreal experience! He prayed in 5 different languages and the Vatican square was packed. After some more pizza, it was time to head back to Florence. At that point, we were all happy to be going home! Rome is fun to visit, but as far as living and studying, Florence is definitely the way to go!
Oh so now for the whole school part of this adventure...
My first class was Ethics. It's a huge class full of every type of major from every school, so it is pretty much just discussion based off of readings. It's interesting, but pretty abstract as far as what she wants us to learn.
Then I went to Italian 101. We learned some basic terms and greetings on the first day and I am happy to say that as of today, I can count (with help from my books), order a coffee drink, tell someone my name/how I am/where I am from and ask some basic questions.
Fresco. This class meets every Tuesday for 3 hours. I walked in only to find out I was the only student there and the only student in the class for the rest of the semester. My professor is a painter and amazing, so I am looking forward to pretty much getting personal art lessons for the semester!
Sculpture. This class technically meets every Wednesday afternoon for 3 hours, but we are able to make our own hours once the projects begin. Our teacher has a studio (and mini museum) about 3 blocks away from campus, so that will make for an extra adventure every time I go over there. I will be the only one coming in on Wednesdays, so I will also be getting personal lessons in sculpture. I'll need it because the last time I touched clay was in the 8th grade... We'll see how it goes!
We all got on a bus down to Rome and checked into our hotels. We were all pretty jet lagged and just wanted to sleep, but we got a second wind and took our our first day in Rome. One of the faulty members took a big group of us to an amazing gelato place near the Pantheon where I ordered the most delicious flavor, Black Passion (basically just dark chocolate with raspberries mixed in). After that a Jesuit priest took us on a little walking tour around the area near out hotel. Unfortunately (and Fortunately), it was the Epiphany celebration in the city, so it was extremely crowded and exciting! It was very difficult to navigate a plaza full of people, while trying to stay with our group. After we finished that tour, it was time to embark on a 3 hour walking town of the entire city. Wow. Lots of walking, but an amazing look at the city and sights at night. Once the tour was done, we had a dinner with the entire group, so about 100 people, at a very nice restaurant in Piazza Popolo. The food was to die for and people were not complaining too much about the flowing house wine that was part of our dinner. After dinner, we made out way to a plaza near the hotel with some fun bars, made some American friends, and explored the Roman nightlife, but felt more like a herd of freshman wandering the Logan neighborhood. Finally, we ended up at the Bulldog, an Irish Pup that was across the street from the hotel, and called it a night.
The next morning we woke up for a tour of Rome led by the Jesuit priest to see where he lived and what Jesuit live was like there. We also got to see some Jesuit churches and sights that were off the beaten path and would not have been exposed to. We had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe then headed to the Villa Borghese to see some gorgeous art work. At that point, we were tired, gumpy, and not very hungry, so we got a light dinner, stopped by the Bulldog to get some coffee and went to bed early.
On the third day of Opening Tour, we toured the Vatican Museum and St. Peter's Basilica. The Sistine Chapel was much more interesting the second time around because I learned more about the meaning, style, and medium involved. After our tour, we found one of he best pizza places ever and 1 euro bottles of water- those are hard to find! Everyone was ready to climb to the top of the basilica, but the line was long and we didn't want to pay, so we decided to make our way across the city to get to the Colosseum. We finally arrived there after walking all over and exploring the metro only to find that it had closed a good hour before we got there. Too bad we sacrificed the view of Rome from St. Peter's for that, but the exterior of the Colosseum was awesome and it made for a fun adventure. Later that night we had another dinner with the whole group and the house wine was flowing faster then before.
We woke up to go a tour of a nearby castle with a gorgeous view of the city. Afterwards, we headed to the Vatican to get blessed by the Pope, which as one can imagine, was a pretty surreal experience! He prayed in 5 different languages and the Vatican square was packed. After some more pizza, it was time to head back to Florence. At that point, we were all happy to be going home! Rome is fun to visit, but as far as living and studying, Florence is definitely the way to go!
Oh so now for the whole school part of this adventure...
My first class was Ethics. It's a huge class full of every type of major from every school, so it is pretty much just discussion based off of readings. It's interesting, but pretty abstract as far as what she wants us to learn.
Then I went to Italian 101. We learned some basic terms and greetings on the first day and I am happy to say that as of today, I can count (with help from my books), order a coffee drink, tell someone my name/how I am/where I am from and ask some basic questions.
Fresco. This class meets every Tuesday for 3 hours. I walked in only to find out I was the only student there and the only student in the class for the rest of the semester. My professor is a painter and amazing, so I am looking forward to pretty much getting personal art lessons for the semester!
Sculpture. This class technically meets every Wednesday afternoon for 3 hours, but we are able to make our own hours once the projects begin. Our teacher has a studio (and mini museum) about 3 blocks away from campus, so that will make for an extra adventure every time I go over there. I will be the only one coming in on Wednesdays, so I will also be getting personal lessons in sculpture. I'll need it because the last time I touched clay was in the 8th grade... We'll see how it goes!
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Belated stories and photos
Yay yay I love Florence. I think I would have to be seriously troubled not to fall in love with this place. The first few days were filled with adventures. We decided to wake up before our mandatory Orientation the second day and explore the city a bit. Luckily jet lag was in our favor so we were ready to go at about 5 am. We ordered our first caffe lattes at Cafe Cavour down the street at just kept walking straight only to stumble upon the Duomo. After finding a Ben and Jerry's, Disney Store, and Sehpora in a one block radius, we knew we were going to be alright! We continued to take pictures and window shop only to find ourselves completely lost with negative time to get our orientation. It was official, less than 24 hours in the city and we were lost. And late. Go figure. We eventually made it to campus (with many hand gestures, broken English, and random stumblings) only 45 minutes to our meeting. Luckily another one followed as we learned everything we needed to know to embark on this little adventure!
After the meeting and another freaking fabulous meal at Gallo d'Oro, we headed out in the city with a bit more confidence. This time there were about 8 of us and we were all in the same boat and ready to explore any and everything.
Here are a few of my favorite pictures from our day of roaming, random findings, oohs and ahhs, and excitement as we explored out new home for the first time:
After the meeting and another freaking fabulous meal at Gallo d'Oro, we headed out in the city with a bit more confidence. This time there were about 8 of us and we were all in the same boat and ready to explore any and everything.
Here are a few of my favorite pictures from our day of roaming, random findings, oohs and ahhs, and excitement as we explored out new home for the first time:
We made it! Greetings from Florence!
Once goodbyes were said, bags were packed, and copious amounts of advice was given, it was finally time to get this adventure started! I got through checking in and a slow security line only to have a solid 2 hours left before my flight departed. (Thanks for getting me to the airport 2.5 hours early, Dad...) Anyways, once that was taken care of, I needed a latte. A huge iced soy hazelnut latte from Peets. Little did I know that my craving would be my last purchase in the US and $7 at that.. Oh well. Once that was taken care of, I started seeing familiar faces as we all waited for our flight from SFO to Frankfurt, Germany. I had a nice, little aisle seat for a lovely 10ish hour flight. Thank goodness for in flight movies and a perfectly timed present of The Office on DVD. Without a minute of sleep on the plane, I wasn't a happy camper, but I got over it pretty fast because once we landed in Frankfurt, we got the cheapest beer and panini we could find. Bear it mind it was 11 am there and 2 in California, but we weren't too worried about it. When in Frankfurt..
The flight to Frankfurt was awesome. Germans are so nice- they waited a solid half hour for some people who had been delayed to get onto the flight. I sat next to a guy on my program and around 4 other students abroad. The people across from me were fresh off a plane from New Jersey and Florence bound as well. Michael was heading to Siena and she was staying in Florence. The girl behind me was a Stanford student studying in Florence and hoping to intern at a bakery in the city. We all bonded and chit chatted for the entire flight. After exchanging names so we could become Facebook friends, we all said our good byes and hope to meet up during sometime this semester! It was a clear afternoon as we were landing in Florence and it was beautiful. We flew over huge tuscan villas and estates and we were all in awe as we got our first glimpse of the Duomo (oh and a massive IKEA).
Luckily all of the bags were there and our taxi drivers got us to our pensione. Too bad we didn't know where it was. After being dropped off in front of the building next to ours, we proceeded to walk about 2 blocks in the opposite direction from our place with 6 massive pieces of luggage plus our carry-ons. We finally found our building and then we struggled to take all of the luggage up the stairs...
Once we got into our pensione, Gallo d'Oro, we got situated, had an absolutely delicious homemade Italian dinner and called it a night at about 8:30 despite our ambitious plans to get gelato with our friends.
The flight to Frankfurt was awesome. Germans are so nice- they waited a solid half hour for some people who had been delayed to get onto the flight. I sat next to a guy on my program and around 4 other students abroad. The people across from me were fresh off a plane from New Jersey and Florence bound as well. Michael was heading to Siena and she was staying in Florence. The girl behind me was a Stanford student studying in Florence and hoping to intern at a bakery in the city. We all bonded and chit chatted for the entire flight. After exchanging names so we could become Facebook friends, we all said our good byes and hope to meet up during sometime this semester! It was a clear afternoon as we were landing in Florence and it was beautiful. We flew over huge tuscan villas and estates and we were all in awe as we got our first glimpse of the Duomo (oh and a massive IKEA).
Luckily all of the bags were there and our taxi drivers got us to our pensione. Too bad we didn't know where it was. After being dropped off in front of the building next to ours, we proceeded to walk about 2 blocks in the opposite direction from our place with 6 massive pieces of luggage plus our carry-ons. We finally found our building and then we struggled to take all of the luggage up the stairs...
Once we got into our pensione, Gallo d'Oro, we got situated, had an absolutely delicious homemade Italian dinner and called it a night at about 8:30 despite our ambitious plans to get gelato with our friends.
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