Pizza and gelato/Florence/Birthday

Sorry for the delay in posting! Things have been pretty busy here in Rome/Florence.

Last week we finally had our much anticipated pizza and gelato crawl. I tried 4 different kinds of pizza and 3 different gelato flavors. It was absolutely delicious!

I also got to visit the Pantheon last week which had been on my to-do list for awhile!

The major event of this past week was our trip to Florence with our art history professor Paulo. He is quite an interesting guy and he led us around the Uffizi gallery, Bargello Museum, and several walking tours of the city.

Our weekend started out with the Uffizi gallery and then a Thanksgiving dinner at our hotel. For lunch I showed some of the girls my favorite panini spot and we got some delicious gelato from Perche No! We then took some silly photos in front of the Duomo before heading back to the hotel for Thanksgiving dinner. At dinner each apartment had to come up with a skit to perform for the group. The boys combined to do one big skit. They did a dating game and had our funniest male professors be interviewed by different girls on our program. It was incredibly funny and everyone had a great time!

The next day we toured the Bargello and had a walking tour of the city. During our lunch break I climbed to the top of the Duomo. It was the most beautiful view I have ever had of the city and of the surrounding hill towns. After that we had fun shopping at the leather market of San Lorenzo before our walking tour of the city. That night I was able to meet up with my friend Paige, who is studying abroad in Florence for the entire year. We went out to dinner and I had a delicious pesto pasta and for dessert we went to her favorite gelato shop. I also got to see where she lived and she gave me a little tour of the city and where her classes are. It is very fun to see a familiar face from home, especially around the holidays. We are all starting to get a little homesick but we can't believe how little time we have left! After that we climbed up to Piazza Michelangelo with the group and played games and took pictures. We got to see the city all lit up at night. After that Paige took us to one of the secret bakeries of Florence, delicious!

Gelato with the girls at Perche No!

The top of the Duomo

The next day we got to visit the famous David of Michelangelo. Let me tell you it is so much more beautiful in person than it is in pictures! I think all the girls fell in love a little bit. Then we toured the Medici Chapel, which wrapped up our classes for the weekend. After that we did some shopping in the leather market and I stopped at the farmer's market where I ran into Paige! After that some of us visited the Boboli Gardens of the Pitti Palace. They were absolutely gorgeous and reminded me of Pride and Prejudice with the view over the Tuscan countryside. That night we celebrated the 3 birthdays of this weekend by going out to dinner and getting gelato. We had a great night and of course took one last trip to the secret bakery.

The Pitti Palace

Our last day we were free to spend it as we please and it started with a birthday morning coffee at the Rivoire cafe. It was the best cappuccino I have had in Italy. After that we watched the Florence marathon for a little bit and then we came across the carousel. It was so much fun to ride the carousel and watch the marathon! From there we did some more last minute shopping at the leather market, got one last panini and gelato, and then got some hot chocolate at the Lindt store. We spent our last hour sitting outside the Duomo drinking hot chocolate. European hot chocolate is very different from American hot chocolate. Here, no matter where you order it, it is drinking melted chocolate. It is delicious and rich, those are the two best words I can use to describe it.

The 21 year old riding the carousel

When we got back home we finished my birthday by watching How to Train your Dragon, an excellent movie for those of you who have not watched it. It was the perfect weekend spent with a great group of people!

Roma/Assisi/Siena

Another week has flown by here in Rome and it is crazy to think I only have 4 weeks left of the study abroad experience. This week in Rome we went to the International Film Festival in Rome. On Monday night I viewed 3 short films and on Tuesday night we went to the premier of Twilight. On Monday night there were some italian film stars on the red carpet and on Tuesday night we made it out onto the red carpet. It was so much fun!

Through our school here in Rome they organized a volunteer opportunity at a soup kitchen for us. I served bread and fruit for 2 hours and it was an amazing experience.

On Thursday we visited several churches with our theology teacher and met a monk from SJU who is completing his doctorate over here. That night we headed to the vatican and the castle to see everything lit up at night and of course, take some more pictures.

On Friday we spent the day in Assisi with our theology professor. Assisi is the home of St. Francis and St. Claire and we spent the day hiking the hills, and visiting the sites. We walked past fields of olive trees which they were harvesting and we even picked a few of our own. Then we had a picnic lunch on the hill by the castle and then climbed the towers for an amazing view. After that we saw where St. Francis was buried and had a formal tour of the cathedral. It was a wonderful day and a beautiful city I hope to go back to some day! We couldn't have asked for better weather or a more beautiful view!

On Saturday a small group of us travelled to Siena for the day. We had a relaxing and wonderful time shopping and sitting in the Piazza del Campo. Then we toured the duomo and several of us climbed the tower for the 360 degree view of Siena and the surrounding hill towns of Tuscany. While we were on the top of the tower a photo shoot was happening with some dancers that was really cool to see. We also saw a hot air balloon and now going on a hot air balloon ride over Tuscany is on my bucket list. Then we went through the museum and saw the arm that baptized Christ. After exploring the city we headed to our wine tasting class. We spent two hours tasting 6 different wines from the Tuscany region, learning about how to purchase the best wine, how to properly taste olive oil, eating cheese, bread, and dark chocolate, and learning about how they harvest/make the wine. It was the highlight of everyones day and our teacher was excellent! If you are ever in Siena go to the Tuscan Wine School:) After the wine tasting we had just enough time for dinner at a restaurant (Guido) that was filled with pictures of the famous people that had visited and their autographs. It was fun to look at the pictures while enjoying our delicious risotto with a pumpkin cream and gorgonzola sauce.

We are all so excited to spend Thanksgiving in Florence this weekend. Keep checking facebook for more pictures!

Roma/Pompeii/Sorrento/Naples

Time in Rome is already flying by! We are so busy the weeks are starting to merge together and it is time for a long update.

This past week in Rome we had our first class walking tours with our History and Art History professors. We saw the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, Mussolini's residence, and many other historical buildings and Piazza's.

For our theology class we toured San Clemente church and I have to say it was one of my favorite churches in Europe so far. We had a wonderful tour guide with an Irish accent who is in the monastery there. He gave us a lovely tour of both the church and what is underneath it. It turns out that the church was actually built on top of another church that was built on top of a house. The house was for a very rich family at the time because they had running water. There will still frescos on the walls of the original church from the 10th and 11th centuries. My favorite part was looking at the beautiful mosaic work behind the altar while listening to his story of how he entered the monastery.

Later that day we went out to dinner with one of my roommates family who were in town visiting. I had a wonderful pizza with gorgonzola and rucola. From there we walked to the Pantheon and then a gelato shop with 150 flavors. I tried kit kat, chocolate raspberry, and chocolate coconut. From there we walked to the Trevi Fountain and made our wishes. While we were there a couple who had just gotten married were taking some wedding photos:) After that we walked to the top of the Spanish Steps and enjoyed the view.

This past weekend was excellent! We traveled to Pompeii, Sorrento, and Naples. We started our journey in Pompeii and although our original tour guide wasn't able to make it we were able to find another guide and got a wonderful tour of Pompeii. We walked into the gladiators quarters where they trained and resided. Then we saw two theaters. Along the walls leading into the larger theater you can see carvings that people did on the walls while they got bored waiting to get into the theater. There were gladiators and horses and people. From there we walked along a smaller street with shops and homes. Many of the residents lived in the shops where they worked so there are not many plain homes.We saw the baths both male and female that were fully equipped with hot and cold running water. After that we toured the brothel/the most visited place in Pompeii and walked past what they called a "Happy House" or a smaller brothel that could charge expensive prices. After that we went to the forum, basilica, and then an aristocratic residence with the first ever "Beware of the dog" sign done in mosaic on the front entrance. Along the way we saw preserved bodies and frescos that had been left at the sight. I loved Pompeii, it was great to see what I studied when I was younger in person. That has been happening a lot on this trip and is one of the reasons I love Europe.

From Pompeii we drove to Sorrento famous for their lemons and lemoncello. We spent the night watching a soccer match, shopping, and wandering the historic city center. I tried some lemoncello, and wonderful lemon candies. We were served a fancy meal at our hotel where it just so happened that the Sorrento soccer team was staying for the night. Sorrento was a lovely city that I hope to go back to some day.

The next day we traveled to Naples where we toured the archeological building that has many artifacts from Pompeii. The mosaics were lovely and it we saw many sculptures we have been studying during our time in Greece and Italy. They have a special room at the museum that you are only allowed into if you are 18 or older. In Pompeii they used an image of a phallus to ward away evil. Those objects are kept in a separate room. After we completed our tour we stepped out into the city of Naples. I have to say...it's not a pretty city, probably one of the dirtiest I have ever been to. However, we did have some excellent pizza and a cannoli. We also got to shop along the street where everyone buys their Christmas nativity scenes and Christmas decorations.

It was a wonderful and busy weekend.

Last night I attended some short films at the International Rome Film Festival and tonight I am going to the red carpet premier of Twilight. It should be a blast!

Venice/Murano

This weekend we took a little group excursion to Venice. We took the train and arrived in Venice and Friday evening. We spent Friday night exploring the island, had a little dinner, and then headed to our hostel for the evening called "Camping Jolly Plus".

Saturday was wonderful! We spent the day souvenir shopping, finding hidden canals, drinking coffee, and seeing the sights. We basically spent the entire weekend eating carbs: croissants, pizza, pasta, etc.

In the afternoon a small group of us traveled to the island of Murano which is known for glass blowing. We stepped off the ferry and into a glass blowing demonstration. We watched him make a vase, while another man explained different glass blowing techniques and how they add colors. It was very interesting from there we did some shopping and I found a beautiful blue and white vase that reminds me of the ocean. After a little bartering I bought it and sent it home to the states. I can't wait to see it when I get home! After that we saw shop after shop filled with beautiful glass pieces: chandeliers, vases, platters, cups, wine bottle stoppers, animal figurines, etc. In different small palazzos on the island there were huge glass sculptures. It was just beautiful.

The best part of Venice and Murano is that it is all about the exploring. Venice is filled with canals, gondolas, and hidden streets. Rick Steve, who write many guidebooks for Europe, encourages getting lost in Venice and that is exactly what we did!

The most interesting things about Venice:

• most of the dogs are dressed up in some fashion: jumpsuits, raincoats, dresses, etc
• the roads are canals and therefore the ambulances are small boats
• even when you are lost, you can always find your way back to the main squares
• the gondolas are beautiful, but incredibly expensive
• the canals are perfectly picturesque
• everyone wears scarves and leather boots
• the masks for the festival are crazy and everywhere!