Well, I am back in St. Paul- safe and sound. Our plane was delayed a little because there was some damage to one of the cargo doors and then when we got back they were having trouble getting the stairs hooked up so we waited on the plane for another half an hour but all in all it was a good flight.
Leaving Venice was fun, we took a water taxi. Our hotel was located right on the grand canal and it picked us up on the back balcony. It cruised straight to the airport. It was very cool, I swear it is the only way to travel haha!
I am glad to be back and excited to do laundry but this has definitly been an amazing experience and I am so incredibly thankful to have had the opportunity, despite the fact that I'm going to be paying this one off for quite a while haha
On that note, I have to call work and tell them to get me on the schedule ASAP haha I actually have quite a few things to do in the next couple of days to play catch up before classes begin on Monday.
I am glad to be back and I will try to post the final group of pictures on here when I get the chance, sometime this weekend.
Lots of love,
Ash
Friday, January 25, 2008
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Day 24
Last Day!
Today was our last day in Venice and in Italy... Half of us went to Padua which is a city where Shakespeare set a couple of his plays and half of us stayed here in Venice. I stayed here, I have not have enough of the city yet. I love it here. It is still my number one.
We took off in the morning and went to an island called Murano. It is where the glass making is based. It was so cool. We went into one of the factories and we saw them make a glass vase. When he was done he got some more glass and I was watching him pull on it with some scissory things and suddenly I realized he was making a horse! It seemed like it only took him one pull and suddenly there would be a perfectly shaped head or leg... it was utterly AMAZING. Needless to say I spent a lot of money in Venice buying glass but I am so excited about it. I knew I was going to do that so I did not spent as much in Rome and Florence.
We spent the rest of our day shopping again on Rialto bridge. It was fun, very relaxing and the day was absolutly perfect. It was bright and the sun was out. It was the perfect way to end this amazing trip.
Now we are all packing up and getting ready for a group dinner. I am not sure what we will do tonight. We only know where one bar is, mostly they have wine bars where you stand outside and drink wine. It might be an early night again which would be ok with me.
Overall this trip has been amazing. I hope the trip home goes smoothly and all of the things I bought get back in one piece.
I better head out though, I cannot wait to see everyone when I get home!
Lots of love,
Ash
Today was our last day in Venice and in Italy... Half of us went to Padua which is a city where Shakespeare set a couple of his plays and half of us stayed here in Venice. I stayed here, I have not have enough of the city yet. I love it here. It is still my number one.
We took off in the morning and went to an island called Murano. It is where the glass making is based. It was so cool. We went into one of the factories and we saw them make a glass vase. When he was done he got some more glass and I was watching him pull on it with some scissory things and suddenly I realized he was making a horse! It seemed like it only took him one pull and suddenly there would be a perfectly shaped head or leg... it was utterly AMAZING. Needless to say I spent a lot of money in Venice buying glass but I am so excited about it. I knew I was going to do that so I did not spent as much in Rome and Florence.
We spent the rest of our day shopping again on Rialto bridge. It was fun, very relaxing and the day was absolutly perfect. It was bright and the sun was out. It was the perfect way to end this amazing trip.
Now we are all packing up and getting ready for a group dinner. I am not sure what we will do tonight. We only know where one bar is, mostly they have wine bars where you stand outside and drink wine. It might be an early night again which would be ok with me.
Overall this trip has been amazing. I hope the trip home goes smoothly and all of the things I bought get back in one piece.
I better head out though, I cannot wait to see everyone when I get home!
Lots of love,
Ash
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Day 23
Free day in Venice!
Our group decided to get up at a reasonable time (9ish), eat an awesome breakfast and then head out. We went to the Rialto bridge and went shopping, I got a ton of beautiful glass things. I love Venice it is so amazing. A couple of us broke off from the group and pretty much walked around the city all morning/day. We went to a ton of glass shops and then took a boat to San Marco where the basilica is.
We "fed" the pigeons- scariest moment of my life. I went to open the bag of seed and the birds were EVERYWHERE. Me, being me, screamed like a little girl, threw the bag of birdseed into the crowd of birds and RAN FOR MY LIFE. Yup.. I did. Then one of the guys we were with saved the bag of seed and we fed them. It was scary... I'm not a big fan of birds.
We basically spent the day wandering around the city. It was awesome. I love Venice. It is such a beautiful and unique city. Then we got hot chocolate and headed back. I'm really craving a crepe with nutella right now though... we might go to get some later.
I'm not sure what the plan is for tonight. We might all go out to dinner together, there isn't much of a night life here though so it'll probably be an earlier night. Which is fine by me... I'd rather get the most of my days than spend them sleeping and be out all night.
I hope everybody is well, I'll be home in 2 days! I love it here but I'm looking forward to coming home. I miss everybody and it'll be nice to not live out of a suitcase.
I love you all,
Ash
P.S. I'm not sure if I'll get more pictures on here before I go but I'll try to post them when I get back for those of you who are reading this and want to see them.
Our group decided to get up at a reasonable time (9ish), eat an awesome breakfast and then head out. We went to the Rialto bridge and went shopping, I got a ton of beautiful glass things. I love Venice it is so amazing. A couple of us broke off from the group and pretty much walked around the city all morning/day. We went to a ton of glass shops and then took a boat to San Marco where the basilica is.
We "fed" the pigeons- scariest moment of my life. I went to open the bag of seed and the birds were EVERYWHERE. Me, being me, screamed like a little girl, threw the bag of birdseed into the crowd of birds and RAN FOR MY LIFE. Yup.. I did. Then one of the guys we were with saved the bag of seed and we fed them. It was scary... I'm not a big fan of birds.
We basically spent the day wandering around the city. It was awesome. I love Venice. It is such a beautiful and unique city. Then we got hot chocolate and headed back. I'm really craving a crepe with nutella right now though... we might go to get some later.
I'm not sure what the plan is for tonight. We might all go out to dinner together, there isn't much of a night life here though so it'll probably be an earlier night. Which is fine by me... I'd rather get the most of my days than spend them sleeping and be out all night.
I hope everybody is well, I'll be home in 2 days! I love it here but I'm looking forward to coming home. I miss everybody and it'll be nice to not live out of a suitcase.
I love you all,
Ash
P.S. I'm not sure if I'll get more pictures on here before I go but I'll try to post them when I get back for those of you who are reading this and want to see them.
Day 22
We arrived in Venice this morning! We took a long train ride (almost 3 hours) and came right into the city. It was so beautiful. I love Venice. It is unlike any other city in the world. The streets are made out of water; the roads are really tiny alleys. It’s awesome. As soon as we got here we dropped our bags off at our hotel (didn’t even get into our rooms) and went to the Peggy Guggenheim museum. It was small but had works by Picasso and Jackson Pollock and many other modern artists. I’m not a big fan of modern art so I’m glad it was small but it was still interesting. After that we headed over to San Marco and toured the basilica. It wasn’t that great to be honest. Maybe I’m just getting “churched out”. It was pretty though, it’s such an old church. Apparently the bones of Mark are there under the alter but we couldn’t see them. After that we headed back to our hotel and got settled in. It’s a very nice hotel actually and I’m really excited to have breakfast at the hotel tomorrow. It has one computer and a tiny space of wireless but I’m having a hard time connecting so I might have to send this later... I’m using word right now and they don’t have word on their computers. It’s kind of a bummer. Hopefully it’ll get working otherwise I won’t get to post this until I get home.
I’m not sure what we’re doing tonight. Venice doesn’t really have a night life and you have to walk along a lot of creepy alleys to get anywhere.
Tomorrow and Wednesday are free days so they should be fun and then I head home on Thursday! As always I hope everybody is doing well. I love you tons,
Ash
I’m not sure what we’re doing tonight. Venice doesn’t really have a night life and you have to walk along a lot of creepy alleys to get anywhere.
Tomorrow and Wednesday are free days so they should be fun and then I head home on Thursday! As always I hope everybody is doing well. I love you tons,
Ash
Day 21
Today was our free day. We hung around the hotel, slept in and relaxed until about noon. Then a small group of us decided to go to Pisa! We went to the train station, got our tickets, and got something quick to eat. Then as we were sitting on the train about 10 mins before it was to leave one of the girls realized she left her purse where we were eating. She ran off the train to get it. We were trying to decide if we should get off the train or if she would make it in time when the doors suddenly shut and locked. We still don’t know what happened to her… we got back and everybody was at a pub to watch the football games, I know she’s find but I wonder if she ever did find her purse and all that.
After that we got to Pisa. There is nothing there, it’s a very run down city and as you’re walking along a deserted side street you suddenly come across the green patch of grass and you turn around a corner and there it is, the leaning tower! It was very cool… we decided to pay the 15 euro to climb to the top (way expensive but considering that’s all there is to do there it’s worth it). As you are walking up you can feel the tower tilting, you start walking slightly sideways, and then leaning forward, then sideways the other way, then backwards. It was so weird. We got to the top and you are literally on top of the tower. There is just a railing to keep you from going over the edge. It was ridiculous. It was a great view though and to be able to say that I climbed to the top of the leaning tower of Pisa is great. It’s one of the 7 wonders of the world dontcha know! (By the way, I’ve decided that I HAVE to go to each of the 7 wonders at some point in my life.)
There is also a church and duomo there but we didn’t get to go in. They closed while we were in the tower. We went back to the station and got our tickets and came back to Florence. The four of us stopped for dinner before we came back to the hotel. I had the best lasagna I’ve ever had in my life. Usually you can taste/feel that you are eating a layered pasta dish, here the layers all blend together and it just melts in your mouth. It was so good. After that we got back and everybody was already at the pub. Two of the people I was with went to Piazza de Michelangelo to see a cool view of Florence and then went to the pub to join the others. One of the girls and I decided to hang out here and pack up and stuff. I’m not a football girl and after all the walking today I wasn’t really looking forward to walking up another huge hill to see Florence since we already saw it from on top of the tower the other day.
All in all today was a good day. I’m glad to just relax a little before we have a big travel day tomorrow. We leave for Venice at 8AM and the train ride is 2-3 hours. I’m excited though, I would love to spend another day in Florence and see more of it (like the other side of the river…) but Venice is going to be wonderful. Only 3 more days until I head back home too… I can’t believe this trip has gone this fast. It really has been a blink of an eye for me. It’s just insane. I am so incredibly glad that I did this, it has been a once in a lifetime experience and you learn so much about yourself and other people. It’s amazing.
That’s it I guess, I’ll probably head to bed soon here. It’s midnight. I think the second game just started or is about to start so it’ll probably be a while before the rest of the group comes back.
As always I love everybody and miss everybody and can’t wait to come back home in a few days. I hope everybody is well and keeping warm.
Lots of love,
Ashley
After that we got to Pisa. There is nothing there, it’s a very run down city and as you’re walking along a deserted side street you suddenly come across the green patch of grass and you turn around a corner and there it is, the leaning tower! It was very cool… we decided to pay the 15 euro to climb to the top (way expensive but considering that’s all there is to do there it’s worth it). As you are walking up you can feel the tower tilting, you start walking slightly sideways, and then leaning forward, then sideways the other way, then backwards. It was so weird. We got to the top and you are literally on top of the tower. There is just a railing to keep you from going over the edge. It was ridiculous. It was a great view though and to be able to say that I climbed to the top of the leaning tower of Pisa is great. It’s one of the 7 wonders of the world dontcha know! (By the way, I’ve decided that I HAVE to go to each of the 7 wonders at some point in my life.)
There is also a church and duomo there but we didn’t get to go in. They closed while we were in the tower. We went back to the station and got our tickets and came back to Florence. The four of us stopped for dinner before we came back to the hotel. I had the best lasagna I’ve ever had in my life. Usually you can taste/feel that you are eating a layered pasta dish, here the layers all blend together and it just melts in your mouth. It was so good. After that we got back and everybody was already at the pub. Two of the people I was with went to Piazza de Michelangelo to see a cool view of Florence and then went to the pub to join the others. One of the girls and I decided to hang out here and pack up and stuff. I’m not a football girl and after all the walking today I wasn’t really looking forward to walking up another huge hill to see Florence since we already saw it from on top of the tower the other day.
All in all today was a good day. I’m glad to just relax a little before we have a big travel day tomorrow. We leave for Venice at 8AM and the train ride is 2-3 hours. I’m excited though, I would love to spend another day in Florence and see more of it (like the other side of the river…) but Venice is going to be wonderful. Only 3 more days until I head back home too… I can’t believe this trip has gone this fast. It really has been a blink of an eye for me. It’s just insane. I am so incredibly glad that I did this, it has been a once in a lifetime experience and you learn so much about yourself and other people. It’s amazing.
That’s it I guess, I’ll probably head to bed soon here. It’s midnight. I think the second game just started or is about to start so it’ll probably be a while before the rest of the group comes back.
As always I love everybody and miss everybody and can’t wait to come back home in a few days. I hope everybody is well and keeping warm.
Lots of love,
Ashley
Day 20
Today we had our final. We slept in a little and then went down the street and got waffles covered in Nutella (Read: amazing). Then we studied most of the day and worked on stuff we had to turn in this afternoon. I did take a little study break though and bought a cute top haha I had to get out of there, it was such a beautiful day. We just took our final, it went ok, very similar to our other exams. We’ll see how it goes. I’m not too worried about my grade. Now we are all getting ready to go to dinner. I think everybody is planning on going out tonight and celebrate finishing the course. We’ll see how that goes.
(later) Dinner was ok, a lot of seafood so I didn’t eat much. I had a steak and I’m pretty sure it was still bleeding a little. After that we got ready and went out. I watched some of the group take the CRAZIEST shot in my life, an orange slice half covered in coffee, half covered in sugar, you put the coffee side down on your tongue and eat it, take this weird shot with god knows what in it and then eat a piece of banana covered in poppyseed… it was nuts. Then we found the Fiddlers Elbow which is a bar we went to in Rome and there is one in Venice. After stopping in there we went to a Discotec called Space. We danced to weird techno music and got hit on my creepy Italian guys. It was fun though, different from just going to pubs and I got to dance!
That’s it for now, tomorrow is our free day and we have no clue what we’re going to do. Possibly going to the Tuscan country side, Chianti, Sienna, Pisa, or just hanging around here and experiencing Florence a little bit more. I hope everybody is doing well, I miss you all!
Lots of love,
Ashley
(later) Dinner was ok, a lot of seafood so I didn’t eat much. I had a steak and I’m pretty sure it was still bleeding a little. After that we got ready and went out. I watched some of the group take the CRAZIEST shot in my life, an orange slice half covered in coffee, half covered in sugar, you put the coffee side down on your tongue and eat it, take this weird shot with god knows what in it and then eat a piece of banana covered in poppyseed… it was nuts. Then we found the Fiddlers Elbow which is a bar we went to in Rome and there is one in Venice. After stopping in there we went to a Discotec called Space. We danced to weird techno music and got hit on my creepy Italian guys. It was fun though, different from just going to pubs and I got to dance!
That’s it for now, tomorrow is our free day and we have no clue what we’re going to do. Possibly going to the Tuscan country side, Chianti, Sienna, Pisa, or just hanging around here and experiencing Florence a little bit more. I hope everybody is doing well, I miss you all!
Lots of love,
Ashley
Day 19
Hey all,
Today we had lecture and workday all day. It was awful because it was a bright, beautiful day outside. We did however sneak out for an hour and climb to the top of the tower at the Duomo and watched the sun set over Florence. That was awesome and kind of made my day better. I have a lot of pictures J we then spent the night doing more work… nothing exciting at all. I guess we had dinner too, but it wasn’t good at all. First bad meal this week.
I better get back to studying… final tomorrow! Hopefully it goes well. I can’t believe this class is basically over with and I get to be a tourist for a couple of days! Haha I hope everybody is doing well, Love you all!
Ash
Today we had lecture and workday all day. It was awful because it was a bright, beautiful day outside. We did however sneak out for an hour and climb to the top of the tower at the Duomo and watched the sun set over Florence. That was awesome and kind of made my day better. I have a lot of pictures J we then spent the night doing more work… nothing exciting at all. I guess we had dinner too, but it wasn’t good at all. First bad meal this week.
I better get back to studying… final tomorrow! Hopefully it goes well. I can’t believe this class is basically over with and I get to be a tourist for a couple of days! Haha I hope everybody is doing well, Love you all!
Ash
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Pictures 2
The Ponte Vechio (possibly how it's spelt)- a bridge that has been turned into a shopping center in Florence
Picture of the David I took before I got yelled at
Michelangelo unfinished sculpture- he was "finding" the art in the marble..
Duomo
Roman Forum (this might be a repeat)
Picture of me above the forum
Me being a gladiator at the Pompeii colloseum
the whole group being gladiators at the Pompeii colloseum
me and the weirdos I am here with :)
That's it for now, I hope you enjoyed them!
Day 18
Hello,
Nothing new to report. We spent the entire day having hours upon hours of lecture. My notebook is ALMOST full. Luckily tomorrow is our last day of lecture so as long as I have enough for that I will be ok. We also did some work on our journal project but we have a paper to do today and tomorow.
Tomorrow is going to be the same as today, lots of lecture. We don't know what we're doing tonight yet. Possibly a group dinner, not sure yet though.
Saturday is our final and the Sunday is our last day in Florence! I really like it here, it's smaller, the people are nicer, and the food is better.
That's really about it. I hope all is well. I miss everybody and even though this has been the trip of a lifetime I can't wait to see everybody in a week.
I love you all,
Ash
Nothing new to report. We spent the entire day having hours upon hours of lecture. My notebook is ALMOST full. Luckily tomorrow is our last day of lecture so as long as I have enough for that I will be ok. We also did some work on our journal project but we have a paper to do today and tomorow.
Tomorrow is going to be the same as today, lots of lecture. We don't know what we're doing tonight yet. Possibly a group dinner, not sure yet though.
Saturday is our final and the Sunday is our last day in Florence! I really like it here, it's smaller, the people are nicer, and the food is better.
That's really about it. I hope all is well. I miss everybody and even though this has been the trip of a lifetime I can't wait to see everybody in a week.
I love you all,
Ash
Day 17
Today we went to the Uffizi gallery. We spent the morning looking at mostly renaissance art. Don’t get me wrong, I love art and I love art museums but after a while they all kinda look the same. Madonna and Child, Jesus on the cross, people staring at the baby Jesus, etc… I did get to see “Primavera” (spring) and “The Birth of Venus” by Botticelli which was really cool because I have studied both of those in class before. We also got to see a replica of “David” which was standing outside in its original spot outside the city hall building which was cool. After that I had a super good Calzone (filled with cheese and ham, not pizza like which is what they do here) Then we went down to “the market” which is basically a big flea market. I got a SUPER cute red Italian leather bag which was originally 58 and we bartered down to 40 euro. I love it. And I got a couple of Pashmina (cashmere and silk) scarves. I also got a cute tee that says Ciao Bella which was only sold in kids sizes, fits perfectly but will probably be donated to Emily once I shrink it accidentally. J After that we did laundry and then hung out at the hotel for a bit. We went out to dinner. We were trying to find the place we went to last night (I had fettuccini alfredo there and it was AMAZING… so light and creamy, not strongly flavored like here) but we couldn’t find it but managed to find a really good and well priced place on our own. I had Risotto al Fiorentine (which means Florence) which was very good, everybody’s food was good. On our way out it started POURING so some of us ran home (literally) and now we are possibly going to watch a movie and go to bed.
Tomorrow is going to be a lot of school and studying, we don’t do any more real touring the rest of the week, just a lot of lecture and we have our final this weekend. It’s really crazy how time is flying.
I better head out though, we’re going to watch a movie and chill. I hope all is well, I miss you all!
Much love,
Ashley
Tomorrow is going to be a lot of school and studying, we don’t do any more real touring the rest of the week, just a lot of lecture and we have our final this weekend. It’s really crazy how time is flying.
I better head out though, we’re going to watch a movie and chill. I hope all is well, I miss you all!
Much love,
Ashley
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Photos
Day 16
Hello all,
This is weird because I JUST wrote the day 15 post haha- we finally got to an internet cafe. It's 1.50 euro for 30 mins which isn't TOO bad... It's about 2.25 in dollars.
Today has been exhausting. It's raining so I think everybody is feeling sluggish because of that, plus people were out later last night after a long day of traveling. This morning we watched some films about the Medici family. They pretty much made Florence what it was/is. There are 4 films in all, each about one hour and we're on our third one. They aren't too bad, obviously made to be educational but actually quite entertaining.
After watching a film we started out to check out museums. We went to the Medici chapel which had several statues by Michelangelo- did you know that the Medicis discovered Michelangelo and basicaly adopted him as a son. He started working for them at age 11 I believe it was. The chapel was kind of cool. Not ornate like the stuff from Rome but it was cool to be in the same building that the Medici family used to own. It housed a lot of relics from different saints too.
We also went to the Academia and saw Michelangelo's David. That was amazing. It is SO tall and you walk down this long corridor which is lined with uncompleted works by Michelangelo (I snuck a few pictures- until I got yelled at). It was kind of funny though, we've always gotten away with sneaking photos as long as we didn't use flash but they were yelling like mad whenever someone took a photo. It was kind of funny.
We also went to the place where the Monk Savonnrolla lived and prayed. He is pretty historical, he was against anything secular and plotted against the Medici family because they supported the arts. He caused a lot of turmoil in Florence actually.
Then we had lunch and ate a couple of pastries (YUM) and now we're taking a break. We thought about going to the market or one of the leather shops (they have AMAZING leather here) but nobody really wanted to go, everybody is so tired and the rain is really ruining the mood around here. A lot of people are napping now or at least relaxing. I'll probably stay in tonight and relax, maybe make a couple of calls.
That is it for now. We are planning on going to a museum about the Duomo this afternoon and I wouldn't be surprised if we finished the last Medici film.
Tomorrow is laundry day and the Uffizi museum. Laundry day means we are 2/3 of the way done with the trip. How crazy is that? 9 days left as of today.
That's it for now. Hopefully I'll get online again in a couple of days... I am kind of addicted to the internet I've come to realize. It really bothers me that I can't just run downstairs and use it whenever I want like we could at the last hotel. I'm such an American.
I hope everybody is enjoying the cold snap I heard is happening in MN, or at least supposed to happen. It's chilly here but not really cold.
I love you all,
Ash
This is weird because I JUST wrote the day 15 post haha- we finally got to an internet cafe. It's 1.50 euro for 30 mins which isn't TOO bad... It's about 2.25 in dollars.
Today has been exhausting. It's raining so I think everybody is feeling sluggish because of that, plus people were out later last night after a long day of traveling. This morning we watched some films about the Medici family. They pretty much made Florence what it was/is. There are 4 films in all, each about one hour and we're on our third one. They aren't too bad, obviously made to be educational but actually quite entertaining.
After watching a film we started out to check out museums. We went to the Medici chapel which had several statues by Michelangelo- did you know that the Medicis discovered Michelangelo and basicaly adopted him as a son. He started working for them at age 11 I believe it was. The chapel was kind of cool. Not ornate like the stuff from Rome but it was cool to be in the same building that the Medici family used to own. It housed a lot of relics from different saints too.
We also went to the Academia and saw Michelangelo's David. That was amazing. It is SO tall and you walk down this long corridor which is lined with uncompleted works by Michelangelo (I snuck a few pictures- until I got yelled at). It was kind of funny though, we've always gotten away with sneaking photos as long as we didn't use flash but they were yelling like mad whenever someone took a photo. It was kind of funny.
We also went to the place where the Monk Savonnrolla lived and prayed. He is pretty historical, he was against anything secular and plotted against the Medici family because they supported the arts. He caused a lot of turmoil in Florence actually.
Then we had lunch and ate a couple of pastries (YUM) and now we're taking a break. We thought about going to the market or one of the leather shops (they have AMAZING leather here) but nobody really wanted to go, everybody is so tired and the rain is really ruining the mood around here. A lot of people are napping now or at least relaxing. I'll probably stay in tonight and relax, maybe make a couple of calls.
That is it for now. We are planning on going to a museum about the Duomo this afternoon and I wouldn't be surprised if we finished the last Medici film.
Tomorrow is laundry day and the Uffizi museum. Laundry day means we are 2/3 of the way done with the trip. How crazy is that? 9 days left as of today.
That's it for now. Hopefully I'll get online again in a couple of days... I am kind of addicted to the internet I've come to realize. It really bothers me that I can't just run downstairs and use it whenever I want like we could at the last hotel. I'm such an American.
I hope everybody is enjoying the cold snap I heard is happening in MN, or at least supposed to happen. It's chilly here but not really cold.
I love you all,
Ash
P.S. Now that I'm at my own computer I'm able to put pictures on... That is me eating "the world's best gelato" in Rome! I'm throwing a coin into the Trevi fountain, and I'm standing inside the Colloseum.
Day 15
Hello all! Today we got to Florence. We took a train straight here from Rome. I’ve decided that I’m not a huge fan of trains. Oh well. When we got here we got into our rooms. We are the only ones at this “tourist house”. It’s neat because we just kind of do whatever we want. We have class in one of the rooms and we have this common area where we keep plastic plates and cups and stuff. We don't get breakfast here like we did in Rome (which was AWESOME... we totally stole extra food and ate it while we were out) so we have to buy groceries and eat them for breakfast. We did switch roommates too, it’s one person from each of our old rooms in our new rooms. It's nice to get to know new people, I think it's part of the learning experience and it will make our trip better and hopefully less cliquey.
After we got settled in we went and checked out the Duomo which happens to be RIGHT outside our door (unfortunately though we don’t have a neat view of it outside our window, but at least it’s a short walk.) It is HUGE but unlike the churches in Rome it is very plain inside- very gothic. Rome has more Baroque churches so they are extremely ornate… it’s strange to be in an area where the work is gothic so it’s huge and more ornate on the outside but inside it’s very plain. We haven’t climbed up into the dome yet though, I hope that we will. There is a tower to climb too.
After that we tried to go to a museum but it was closed- we’ll go tomorrow. Instead we checked out some shops. There is a market tomorrow though so we are going to check that out if we can.
Tonight we went out to a bar which seemed to be filled with American students. This whole city is filled with American students actually. It’s interesting too because the city feels big but really it’s not and we have yet to really use a map like we had to in Rome. It’s kind of nice. I like Florence so far.
I hope all is well in the states- I miss you all! Exactly 10 days left until I return!
Much love,
Ash
After we got settled in we went and checked out the Duomo which happens to be RIGHT outside our door (unfortunately though we don’t have a neat view of it outside our window, but at least it’s a short walk.) It is HUGE but unlike the churches in Rome it is very plain inside- very gothic. Rome has more Baroque churches so they are extremely ornate… it’s strange to be in an area where the work is gothic so it’s huge and more ornate on the outside but inside it’s very plain. We haven’t climbed up into the dome yet though, I hope that we will. There is a tower to climb too.
After that we tried to go to a museum but it was closed- we’ll go tomorrow. Instead we checked out some shops. There is a market tomorrow though so we are going to check that out if we can.
Tonight we went out to a bar which seemed to be filled with American students. This whole city is filled with American students actually. It’s interesting too because the city feels big but really it’s not and we have yet to really use a map like we had to in Rome. It’s kind of nice. I like Florence so far.
I hope all is well in the states- I miss you all! Exactly 10 days left until I return!
Much love,
Ash
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Day 14
Hello all,
Today was our last day in Rome. A large part of our group decided to shop and go to the zoo but my roommates and I decided to tour around. We ended up going with our professor and his wife and basically saw the entire city again. It was awesome. We got to walk down into the forum (the ruins) and got a closer look at that- which I've been DYING to do. We went to a couple of museums about different aspects of the forum and other ruins. We also went to a couple of churches. One had several paintings done by Carravagio who is one of my favorite painters. His work is simply beautiful, he uses lighting really well and the scenes are so emotional. We saw The conversion of St. Paul and The Crusifiction of St. Peter (I believe that's what they were called- you can try to google it if you want). Then we went into this church which had a crypt made entirely of the bones of monks. They literally had mosaics made out of leg bones and skulls and several skeletons. It was really ... interesting. It was a good day overall. I'm glad we spent the day running around the city-you're only in Rome once right? I figure I can shop at home, and already did that here and I can go to the zoo at home too.
Now my roommates and I are going to go to dinner at a place we went the other night that was good- 15 euros for 4 courses! We'll see if anybody else wants to join us. Then we'll probably just come back and shower and pack. We have to catch our train to Florence at 10 tomorrow.
Last night we did go out though. We went half way across the city to this piazza (square) that had a ton of bars. Ironically it was filled with drunk American students. We kept running into a group from Miami. It was fun although I came back with the earlier group. It's not as fun once everybody starts to get obnoxious. (I still don't get the big deal with drinking but that's ok).
That's about it. We don't have computer access in Florence so I might not be on as much unless there is an internet cafe near by. If I do get a chance though I might do a couple of days posts at once- so they are still written as separate blogs/posts but they will just appear at the same time.
I love you all and miss you tons!
Ashley
Today was our last day in Rome. A large part of our group decided to shop and go to the zoo but my roommates and I decided to tour around. We ended up going with our professor and his wife and basically saw the entire city again. It was awesome. We got to walk down into the forum (the ruins) and got a closer look at that- which I've been DYING to do. We went to a couple of museums about different aspects of the forum and other ruins. We also went to a couple of churches. One had several paintings done by Carravagio who is one of my favorite painters. His work is simply beautiful, he uses lighting really well and the scenes are so emotional. We saw The conversion of St. Paul and The Crusifiction of St. Peter (I believe that's what they were called- you can try to google it if you want). Then we went into this church which had a crypt made entirely of the bones of monks. They literally had mosaics made out of leg bones and skulls and several skeletons. It was really ... interesting. It was a good day overall. I'm glad we spent the day running around the city-you're only in Rome once right? I figure I can shop at home, and already did that here and I can go to the zoo at home too.
Now my roommates and I are going to go to dinner at a place we went the other night that was good- 15 euros for 4 courses! We'll see if anybody else wants to join us. Then we'll probably just come back and shower and pack. We have to catch our train to Florence at 10 tomorrow.
Last night we did go out though. We went half way across the city to this piazza (square) that had a ton of bars. Ironically it was filled with drunk American students. We kept running into a group from Miami. It was fun although I came back with the earlier group. It's not as fun once everybody starts to get obnoxious. (I still don't get the big deal with drinking but that's ok).
That's about it. We don't have computer access in Florence so I might not be on as much unless there is an internet cafe near by. If I do get a chance though I might do a couple of days posts at once- so they are still written as separate blogs/posts but they will just appear at the same time.
I love you all and miss you tons!
Ashley
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Day 13
Nothing exciting to report. We studied all day long and then took our midterm. We went out tonight as a group and had a three course meal but it wasn't THAT great... I'm excited to go to Florence because I've heard the food is better.
Tonight I think everybody is going out. We have a day off tomorrow and it's our last day in Rome so I think we'll tour around and possibly relax. That's about it for today though.
As always, I hope all is well and I hope everybody has a great weekend.
Much love,
Ash
Tonight I think everybody is going out. We have a day off tomorrow and it's our last day in Rome so I think we'll tour around and possibly relax. That's about it for today though.
As always, I hope all is well and I hope everybody has a great weekend.
Much love,
Ash
Friday, January 11, 2008
Day 12
Hello everybody!
Today was mostly lecture. We did everything for today and tomorrow (which is 1/3 of the class material) in one day. It was a little much and my brain feels like putty at this point. After our last lecture we decided to go this art gallery which had a lot of modern art. I got to see some works by Monet and Van Gogh which was cool. Now I have to go study for our midterm (again) which is at 6PM tomorrow... I think the next week is going to kick my butt... not to mention the next 24 hours. Oh well, it's the price you have to pay to be here.
Sorry nothing more exciting, today is the half way day though! It's kind of crazy to think I've been here this long. I do miss the states though, I miss eating food where I know what it'll taste like before I get it.
I hope all is well and everybody had a good week,
Love,
Ash
Today was mostly lecture. We did everything for today and tomorrow (which is 1/3 of the class material) in one day. It was a little much and my brain feels like putty at this point. After our last lecture we decided to go this art gallery which had a lot of modern art. I got to see some works by Monet and Van Gogh which was cool. Now I have to go study for our midterm (again) which is at 6PM tomorrow... I think the next week is going to kick my butt... not to mention the next 24 hours. Oh well, it's the price you have to pay to be here.
Sorry nothing more exciting, today is the half way day though! It's kind of crazy to think I've been here this long. I do miss the states though, I miss eating food where I know what it'll taste like before I get it.
I hope all is well and everybody had a good week,
Love,
Ash
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Day 11
A day in Pompeii!
Pompeii was buried in ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted. It was covered in 25 feet of ash in only 3 days. Almost all of the people died with in 3 minutes and because of the ash it was really well preserved.
It was so amazing... it was a lot bigger than I expected and in better shape. We had a tour guide and I believe he said that there was 60 some acres in the town and it was made up of predominantly wealthy people. It was originally created by the Greeks and then taken over by Romans. You could actually see where the Greeks had built walls with volcanic rock and a stucco material and then the romans had rebuilt it with brick. They were very innovative too. For street lighting they used tiny white marble stones in the sidewalks which shines in the moonlight apparently. They also had raised stepping stones across the street. Apparently they used to throw refuge in the streets and then the aqueducts would send water through the streets and carry the mess down to the sea. They even had pipes- even if they were lead. Oh and the city was built on the sea- it was a seaport but when Vesuvius erupted the sea moved back about 3 miles!
We even saw some of the plaster body casts, there weren't a ton of them though. I think most of the artifacts like those have been moved to museums. These casts were made when they found holes in the ground when they were excavating. They were curious so they filled them with plaster and found out they were empty spaces where bodies fell.
A lot of the art work was saved too. They would paint pictures/murals on their walls as decoration. The coloring was even still rather vivid. It was an overcast day so the lighting was perfect and I have really good pictures to show everybody!
It was so interesting to see all of this. So much of it is still standing- it's amazing. It was definitely a highlight of my trip so far. Mom- you would have LOVED it... someday when I'm rich and famous I'm bringing you there.
I even got to ride a real train! It was a fun experience. The first train we took was EXACTLY like Harry Potter- with the little rooms for people to sit in. The other one back though just had seats. It's definitely been an experience though.
Last night was the midterm and overall I think I did okay, we'll see once he grades them. After that we all had a group dinner. It was pretty good. Tonight I'm not sure what's going on. We have some reading to do for tomorrow's lecture- only 2 days until another midterm and journal is due! We might all just chill tonight, we're pretty exhausted from all of the traveling. It took almost 3 hours to get to Pompeii and we had to take two trains each way.
That's about it, I believe tomorrow is the half way point of this trip. It's going by so fast! I'm ready to be done with Rome though, I feel like we've seen anything and I'm super excited to experience Florence and Venice (again!). Anyways, I hope all is well and everybody had a good day!
Love ya!
Ash
P.S. Kelly- I am 7 hours ahead of you so I'll probably have to wait until the weekend to call you unless you are free earlier in the day at all... Let me know your weekend schedule.
Pompeii was buried in ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted. It was covered in 25 feet of ash in only 3 days. Almost all of the people died with in 3 minutes and because of the ash it was really well preserved.
It was so amazing... it was a lot bigger than I expected and in better shape. We had a tour guide and I believe he said that there was 60 some acres in the town and it was made up of predominantly wealthy people. It was originally created by the Greeks and then taken over by Romans. You could actually see where the Greeks had built walls with volcanic rock and a stucco material and then the romans had rebuilt it with brick. They were very innovative too. For street lighting they used tiny white marble stones in the sidewalks which shines in the moonlight apparently. They also had raised stepping stones across the street. Apparently they used to throw refuge in the streets and then the aqueducts would send water through the streets and carry the mess down to the sea. They even had pipes- even if they were lead. Oh and the city was built on the sea- it was a seaport but when Vesuvius erupted the sea moved back about 3 miles!
We even saw some of the plaster body casts, there weren't a ton of them though. I think most of the artifacts like those have been moved to museums. These casts were made when they found holes in the ground when they were excavating. They were curious so they filled them with plaster and found out they were empty spaces where bodies fell.
A lot of the art work was saved too. They would paint pictures/murals on their walls as decoration. The coloring was even still rather vivid. It was an overcast day so the lighting was perfect and I have really good pictures to show everybody!
It was so interesting to see all of this. So much of it is still standing- it's amazing. It was definitely a highlight of my trip so far. Mom- you would have LOVED it... someday when I'm rich and famous I'm bringing you there.
I even got to ride a real train! It was a fun experience. The first train we took was EXACTLY like Harry Potter- with the little rooms for people to sit in. The other one back though just had seats. It's definitely been an experience though.
Last night was the midterm and overall I think I did okay, we'll see once he grades them. After that we all had a group dinner. It was pretty good. Tonight I'm not sure what's going on. We have some reading to do for tomorrow's lecture- only 2 days until another midterm and journal is due! We might all just chill tonight, we're pretty exhausted from all of the traveling. It took almost 3 hours to get to Pompeii and we had to take two trains each way.
That's about it, I believe tomorrow is the half way point of this trip. It's going by so fast! I'm ready to be done with Rome though, I feel like we've seen anything and I'm super excited to experience Florence and Venice (again!). Anyways, I hope all is well and everybody had a good day!
Love ya!
Ash
P.S. Kelly- I am 7 hours ahead of you so I'll probably have to wait until the weekend to call you unless you are free earlier in the day at all... Let me know your weekend schedule.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Day 10
Today we got to see the Pope!
One of the boys got tickets and we attended the "audience with the pope". It was in this big auditorium and people were cheering as if he was a superstar. They would repeat almost everything in about 5 different languages too. Each person/cardinal would stand up and announce certain groups from certain areas. Had we been smart we could have had our group announced. Oh well. When they announced this group of nuns they went crazy and started chanting- I totally got it on video. It's super cute/funny. A lot of people were waving flags and scarves too. And he blessed everybody. There was even a bride there!
It was pretty cool, minus the fact that most of it was in Italian and there was a screaming child in front of us. Oh, and they did the "our father" in Latin! I have it written on the back of my ticket... it was pretty cool.
Hopefully we'll do well on our test today since we are blessed and all ;)
That's it for now, we are going to be studying all day. Our midterm is at 7PM, noon for all those in MN. I'm not sure what's going on tonight, me and another girl might just chill in the rooms like I did last night and see if we can get a movie in English somehow. I think our professor said he had some but they might be educational... we'll see. Tomorrow is Pompeii and it'll be an early day and a long train ride but it should be amazing. Last night I stayed back in the hotel while everybody went out. I'm not really a bar girl and I was looking forward to a little quiet time alone, I made a few calls, did a little studying, and went to be early. It was actually really nice- even though it makes me a loser :P
I hope all is well in the States! I'm almost half way done with this crazy experience which is ridiculous. Time goes by so fast here because we are doing so much. We have only two morning of lecture before our next midterm and then a week later we are done with the entire course. Time is really flying... this is amazing.
I love you all and hope everybody had a good day!
Ash
One of the boys got tickets and we attended the "audience with the pope". It was in this big auditorium and people were cheering as if he was a superstar. They would repeat almost everything in about 5 different languages too. Each person/cardinal would stand up and announce certain groups from certain areas. Had we been smart we could have had our group announced. Oh well. When they announced this group of nuns they went crazy and started chanting- I totally got it on video. It's super cute/funny. A lot of people were waving flags and scarves too. And he blessed everybody. There was even a bride there!
It was pretty cool, minus the fact that most of it was in Italian and there was a screaming child in front of us. Oh, and they did the "our father" in Latin! I have it written on the back of my ticket... it was pretty cool.
Hopefully we'll do well on our test today since we are blessed and all ;)
That's it for now, we are going to be studying all day. Our midterm is at 7PM, noon for all those in MN. I'm not sure what's going on tonight, me and another girl might just chill in the rooms like I did last night and see if we can get a movie in English somehow. I think our professor said he had some but they might be educational... we'll see. Tomorrow is Pompeii and it'll be an early day and a long train ride but it should be amazing. Last night I stayed back in the hotel while everybody went out. I'm not really a bar girl and I was looking forward to a little quiet time alone, I made a few calls, did a little studying, and went to be early. It was actually really nice- even though it makes me a loser :P
I hope all is well in the States! I'm almost half way done with this crazy experience which is ridiculous. Time goes by so fast here because we are doing so much. We have only two morning of lecture before our next midterm and then a week later we are done with the entire course. Time is really flying... this is amazing.
I love you all and hope everybody had a good day!
Ash
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Day 9
Laundry day!!!!
haha yes, we did laundry this afternoon. It was super expensive (7 euros total to wash and dry... which is around 10 bucks...) but at least we have clean clothes again. It's kind of nice :)
This morning we had another early day. We went to the Borghese Museum. It's a mansion that was owned by a cardinal I believe, and then he sold it to the city of Rome and state of Italy. It was already a museum at the time and all of the art work came with the place. Apparently it used to be used by the Pope to show to ambassadors and stuff. It was filled with cool art. My favorite were the sculptures created by Bernini. They had his version of David and several others based on mythology. They were so beautiful. I bought post cards of each of them to show everyone when I get back. The detail was amazing, they would have two figures holding each other and you could actually see where the hand of one imprinted on the skin of the other.
After that we decided to go to the Spanish steps while we were out and in the area. They weren't as exciting and cool as I thought they would be but we did see a pick pocketer in action! We were standing above the steps looking down and saw this suspicious woman. We watched her for a while and suddenly she motioned to a group standing near her and they all ran up to this man with his family. One tried to take his watch, one tried to grab into his pocket, others were trying to "beg for money". Luckily the man reacted really quickly and they didn't get anything from him. It was crazy though...
Then we decided to head back to our hotel- we got our clothes together and did our laundry. Now everybody is napping once again. There must be something wrong with me, I don't nap like everyone else apparently does. I would much rather be out exploring the city... oh well.
Last night we ended up going to another pub called Trinity College. I'm not sure what's going on tonight but unless it's something cool like the Ice bar thing I think I'll stay back... it's not really my scene. Then tomorrow we have a midterm at 7PM. We're all kind of nervous. The material seems straight forward but we just learned about a third to a half of a semester's worth of material in 5 days. It should be interesting to see what the midterm is like. Everyone who has taken this class before said it's a pretty tough one.
Anyways, I guess I'll get going. I hope all is well!
I love you all!
Ash
haha yes, we did laundry this afternoon. It was super expensive (7 euros total to wash and dry... which is around 10 bucks...) but at least we have clean clothes again. It's kind of nice :)
This morning we had another early day. We went to the Borghese Museum. It's a mansion that was owned by a cardinal I believe, and then he sold it to the city of Rome and state of Italy. It was already a museum at the time and all of the art work came with the place. Apparently it used to be used by the Pope to show to ambassadors and stuff. It was filled with cool art. My favorite were the sculptures created by Bernini. They had his version of David and several others based on mythology. They were so beautiful. I bought post cards of each of them to show everyone when I get back. The detail was amazing, they would have two figures holding each other and you could actually see where the hand of one imprinted on the skin of the other.
After that we decided to go to the Spanish steps while we were out and in the area. They weren't as exciting and cool as I thought they would be but we did see a pick pocketer in action! We were standing above the steps looking down and saw this suspicious woman. We watched her for a while and suddenly she motioned to a group standing near her and they all ran up to this man with his family. One tried to take his watch, one tried to grab into his pocket, others were trying to "beg for money". Luckily the man reacted really quickly and they didn't get anything from him. It was crazy though...
Then we decided to head back to our hotel- we got our clothes together and did our laundry. Now everybody is napping once again. There must be something wrong with me, I don't nap like everyone else apparently does. I would much rather be out exploring the city... oh well.
Last night we ended up going to another pub called Trinity College. I'm not sure what's going on tonight but unless it's something cool like the Ice bar thing I think I'll stay back... it's not really my scene. Then tomorrow we have a midterm at 7PM. We're all kind of nervous. The material seems straight forward but we just learned about a third to a half of a semester's worth of material in 5 days. It should be interesting to see what the midterm is like. Everyone who has taken this class before said it's a pretty tough one.
Anyways, I guess I'll get going. I hope all is well!
I love you all!
Ash
Monday, January 7, 2008
Day 8
Hey,
Today we toured at the Vatican. We went in the back entrance and walked quickly through the museum (which was fine by me... and most everybody else in the group.) and straight into the Sistine Chapel. I imagined it differently but it was still AMAZING. The ceilings was so high up, I can't imagine Michelangelo actually laying there and painting every stroke. It was beautiful. I secretly snapped a couple of pictures too. The coloring was really good too. We read that while the ceiling has been restored, they have managed to make the coloring almost exactly as it was originally. The blues were very blue, the skin tones were just perfect and the detail was AMAZING. It's also amazing to think of how massive the figures must be for them to be so clear from the floor.
Once we left the chapel we decided not to go take a closer look at the museum and went to St. Peter's Basilica. We first took a tour through the catacombs where past popes were buried. We saw Pope John Paul II's tomb. It wasn't as decorative as many of the others, just a simple slanted slab of marble. There were flowers there and some people were standing around and crying. It was so sad and amazing at the same time- to think how people are effected so much by one man. I was really irritated though when one of the girls said something about not understanding why they were crying (but in a snotty way...) seriously, even if you're not catholic you should be able to at least open your mind to the idea that some people are and this is something that meant a lot to them.
We also saw the tomb of Saint Peter- it is located directly under the alter. That was very cool even though it was behind a lot of glass.
After that we went into the Basilica. It was massive. Near the domed roof there is lettering which is 7 feet high, but from where you're standing on the floor it looks like normal print. I believe they said it was the largest church in the world. It reminded me of a stadium. They also had several niches where smaller mass services were held (they were having mass while we were there at one of them) There were also tombs of popes. One was encased in bronze and one was one of the more recent popes and he was preserved- you could see him through the glass. I also saw the Pieta which was created by Michelangelo. It was a statue of Mary holding Jesus after he was crucified. The Pieta was one of the things I was dying to see so that was awesome.
Then, as a group we decided to walk up half a billion stairs into the dome of St. Peter's. Dad wouldn't have liked this much... It was a trek but we got to look down inside the basilica from the domed roof. Then, we climbed a billion and a quarter stairs into the TOP of the dome and got to see the entire city of Rome. It was amazing. It wasn't a super clear day but the weather was beautiful and you could see everything. I'm so glad we decided to make the trek.
After that we went out into St. Peter's square outside the basilica and looked around. We saw a crazy woman feeding the pigeons. They were flying onto her and everything. Then we went out of the central Vatican area and ate lunch and sat for a bit. On our way home we stopped at a couple of stores and then split up. The group I went with ended up stopping and getting some really good gelato (ice cream but better) and we ate it at the Trevi fountain. It was wonderful.
Now we're all back at home. Everybody is napping but I don't really nap so here I am. Tonight I think we might either try to visit the Spanish Steps (supposedly cool and close by) or go to a bar which is completely made out of ice which sounds like fun. Tomorrow we have to be up earlier again for a museum visit. We're getting close to midterm time though so I think we're going to start studying for that too.
Oh, and I bought a cool picture of the Trevi fountain, a bunch of post cards so I can show people everything I've seen (better quality than my pictures) and I bought grandma a pretty rosary at the Vatican- literally from on top of the dome! Shhh don't tell her though. I'm still working on other souvenir ideas. I think I'll get the majority of stuff in Florence and Venice.
That's about it. This computer is really slow so it's literally taken me about 20 mins to write this. I hope everybody is well!
I love you all!
Ash
Today we toured at the Vatican. We went in the back entrance and walked quickly through the museum (which was fine by me... and most everybody else in the group.) and straight into the Sistine Chapel. I imagined it differently but it was still AMAZING. The ceilings was so high up, I can't imagine Michelangelo actually laying there and painting every stroke. It was beautiful. I secretly snapped a couple of pictures too. The coloring was really good too. We read that while the ceiling has been restored, they have managed to make the coloring almost exactly as it was originally. The blues were very blue, the skin tones were just perfect and the detail was AMAZING. It's also amazing to think of how massive the figures must be for them to be so clear from the floor.
Once we left the chapel we decided not to go take a closer look at the museum and went to St. Peter's Basilica. We first took a tour through the catacombs where past popes were buried. We saw Pope John Paul II's tomb. It wasn't as decorative as many of the others, just a simple slanted slab of marble. There were flowers there and some people were standing around and crying. It was so sad and amazing at the same time- to think how people are effected so much by one man. I was really irritated though when one of the girls said something about not understanding why they were crying (but in a snotty way...) seriously, even if you're not catholic you should be able to at least open your mind to the idea that some people are and this is something that meant a lot to them.
We also saw the tomb of Saint Peter- it is located directly under the alter. That was very cool even though it was behind a lot of glass.
After that we went into the Basilica. It was massive. Near the domed roof there is lettering which is 7 feet high, but from where you're standing on the floor it looks like normal print. I believe they said it was the largest church in the world. It reminded me of a stadium. They also had several niches where smaller mass services were held (they were having mass while we were there at one of them) There were also tombs of popes. One was encased in bronze and one was one of the more recent popes and he was preserved- you could see him through the glass. I also saw the Pieta which was created by Michelangelo. It was a statue of Mary holding Jesus after he was crucified. The Pieta was one of the things I was dying to see so that was awesome.
Then, as a group we decided to walk up half a billion stairs into the dome of St. Peter's. Dad wouldn't have liked this much... It was a trek but we got to look down inside the basilica from the domed roof. Then, we climbed a billion and a quarter stairs into the TOP of the dome and got to see the entire city of Rome. It was amazing. It wasn't a super clear day but the weather was beautiful and you could see everything. I'm so glad we decided to make the trek.
After that we went out into St. Peter's square outside the basilica and looked around. We saw a crazy woman feeding the pigeons. They were flying onto her and everything. Then we went out of the central Vatican area and ate lunch and sat for a bit. On our way home we stopped at a couple of stores and then split up. The group I went with ended up stopping and getting some really good gelato (ice cream but better) and we ate it at the Trevi fountain. It was wonderful.
Now we're all back at home. Everybody is napping but I don't really nap so here I am. Tonight I think we might either try to visit the Spanish Steps (supposedly cool and close by) or go to a bar which is completely made out of ice which sounds like fun. Tomorrow we have to be up earlier again for a museum visit. We're getting close to midterm time though so I think we're going to start studying for that too.
Oh, and I bought a cool picture of the Trevi fountain, a bunch of post cards so I can show people everything I've seen (better quality than my pictures) and I bought grandma a pretty rosary at the Vatican- literally from on top of the dome! Shhh don't tell her though. I'm still working on other souvenir ideas. I think I'll get the majority of stuff in Florence and Venice.
That's about it. This computer is really slow so it's literally taken me about 20 mins to write this. I hope everybody is well!
I love you all!
Ash
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Day 7
Merry Christmas!
Yup, you heard it right, they are having their Christmas today. It's the Epiphany and it's kind of a big deal around here.
Well, one week down. Today we had lecture and then went and toured several churches and a museum. The museum was at a palace so that was pretty cool and there was a really cool ceiling in it. I'll show you all pictures when I get back. The churches were very pretty, most of them were baroque which means they were ornate and many had oval tiered ceilings.
This afternoon we ate at the Hard Rock Cafe. It was sooo good, I was totally craving a cheeseburger and fries so it was awesome. I miss good old American food already... sadly I'm starting to get sick of bread and other carbs... and I really want some protein..
I think tonight we're going to bed early. We have to be up early in order to get to the Vatican and stand in line for an hour in order to get into the Vatican. It should be amazing though, hopefully there will be a good post tomorrow.
I love you all!
Ash
Yup, you heard it right, they are having their Christmas today. It's the Epiphany and it's kind of a big deal around here.
Well, one week down. Today we had lecture and then went and toured several churches and a museum. The museum was at a palace so that was pretty cool and there was a really cool ceiling in it. I'll show you all pictures when I get back. The churches were very pretty, most of them were baroque which means they were ornate and many had oval tiered ceilings.
This afternoon we ate at the Hard Rock Cafe. It was sooo good, I was totally craving a cheeseburger and fries so it was awesome. I miss good old American food already... sadly I'm starting to get sick of bread and other carbs... and I really want some protein..
I think tonight we're going to bed early. We have to be up early in order to get to the Vatican and stand in line for an hour in order to get into the Vatican. It should be amazing though, hopefully there will be a good post tomorrow.
I love you all!
Ash
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Day 6b
Yeah... I'm posting again because I'm bored.
After working on our project this afternoon we realized we didn't actually have class again so we went out to run some errands in the rain. Both of my roomies brought voltage converters but both of them have either been fried or simply do not work so I was going to get one since we now don't have one... we also had to find a sim card for one of the girls (cell phone deal). We ran all over the city and kept getting told to go in different places. We ended up at the railroad terminal which is basically a big mall. We didn't get ANYTHING that we meant to get though. The sim card store (which we FINALLY found) didn't have any left so we have to go back tomorrow and we could only find plug adapters, not voltage converters. That might become a problem although we're borrowing from another room for now.
That was my evening. Oh and it was raining really hard so we just went to the snack bar across the street. I found chicken and potatoes there :) I've been missing chicken.. don't get me wrong, I love pasta but I really miss chicken and they don't seem to have it anywhere here. They are big into pork (if you've never had it go get some Pruschetta...I believe it's dried ham, SO GOOD!) - oh and I totally butchered the spelling of that one.
Now we're just chilling. Tomorrow should be more interesting, I think we're going to be seeing a lot of famous paintings and such. Monday will be the Vatican day so that's fun, and then most of the rest of next week is tests and then it's off to Florence! Time is starting to fly. I miss home though... but I'm definitely cherishing this experience because really how many in your times do you get to do something like this? (apparently twice... haha)
Anyways, I'll stop boring you. I love you all!
Ash
P.S. It's in the 40's here dad, it's actually not that bad as far as weather goes. It should be getting colder when we get to Florence and Venice because they are North of here and Venice is on the water. I've actually been trying to find a new Winter coat here... my old one is falling a part and I don't love the one I just got. They have some cute coats here and since tomorrow is technically Christmas for them (it's the Epiphany) a lot of the stores have been having MAJOR sales. I'm also thinking I might need something a little bit warmer than what I have when we get to Florence and Venice. We'll see though... only if it's a good deal haha
After working on our project this afternoon we realized we didn't actually have class again so we went out to run some errands in the rain. Both of my roomies brought voltage converters but both of them have either been fried or simply do not work so I was going to get one since we now don't have one... we also had to find a sim card for one of the girls (cell phone deal). We ran all over the city and kept getting told to go in different places. We ended up at the railroad terminal which is basically a big mall. We didn't get ANYTHING that we meant to get though. The sim card store (which we FINALLY found) didn't have any left so we have to go back tomorrow and we could only find plug adapters, not voltage converters. That might become a problem although we're borrowing from another room for now.
That was my evening. Oh and it was raining really hard so we just went to the snack bar across the street. I found chicken and potatoes there :) I've been missing chicken.. don't get me wrong, I love pasta but I really miss chicken and they don't seem to have it anywhere here. They are big into pork (if you've never had it go get some Pruschetta...I believe it's dried ham, SO GOOD!) - oh and I totally butchered the spelling of that one.
Now we're just chilling. Tomorrow should be more interesting, I think we're going to be seeing a lot of famous paintings and such. Monday will be the Vatican day so that's fun, and then most of the rest of next week is tests and then it's off to Florence! Time is starting to fly. I miss home though... but I'm definitely cherishing this experience because really how many in your times do you get to do something like this? (apparently twice... haha)
Anyways, I'll stop boring you. I love you all!
Ash
P.S. It's in the 40's here dad, it's actually not that bad as far as weather goes. It should be getting colder when we get to Florence and Venice because they are North of here and Venice is on the water. I've actually been trying to find a new Winter coat here... my old one is falling a part and I don't love the one I just got. They have some cute coats here and since tomorrow is technically Christmas for them (it's the Epiphany) a lot of the stores have been having MAJOR sales. I'm also thinking I might need something a little bit warmer than what I have when we get to Florence and Venice. We'll see though... only if it's a good deal haha
Day 6
hello all,
Today is another boring day. We had lecture this morning, worked on an assignment, and we have lecture again this afternoon. It's raining here though so it's not the end of the world that we aren't running around outside. My feet are happier too.
I'm just sitting here eating a delicious pizza (it's more like ham and cheese panini but whatever.. it's still delicious) so I hope you are all jealous :)
We also moved rooms this morning. Ours was too loud and while I can sleep through almost anything my roomies can't. Our new room is actually nicer though so it's all good. There is really nothing exciting to report though. Last night we had a nice dinner... nothing exciting.
I miss you all!!!
Lots of love,
Ashley
Today is another boring day. We had lecture this morning, worked on an assignment, and we have lecture again this afternoon. It's raining here though so it's not the end of the world that we aren't running around outside. My feet are happier too.
I'm just sitting here eating a delicious pizza (it's more like ham and cheese panini but whatever.. it's still delicious) so I hope you are all jealous :)
We also moved rooms this morning. Ours was too loud and while I can sleep through almost anything my roomies can't. Our new room is actually nicer though so it's all good. There is really nothing exciting to report though. Last night we had a nice dinner... nothing exciting.
I miss you all!!!
Lots of love,
Ashley
Friday, January 4, 2008
Day 5
Bonjourno!
I'm working on my Italian! Did you know that Gratzi is pronounced Grat-zee-ay? It is... :)
Haha I feel really dumb here not even being able to properly say easy phrases so I'm trying to learn and use them. It's kind of fun! We're all also working on learning the city. We've gotten the hang of some of it but roads here NEVER seem to go straight.
Last night we ate at this really good restaurant. It was a little expensive but I tried rissoto and it was DELICIOUS! It's basically just rice... but still that's pretty adventurous for me
Today isn't exciting. We had lecture this morning, then we have lecture this afternoon. We also have an assignment to do today and a 3 page paper to write. We're all just working on stuff today. I don't think any of us will really go out or do anything. It's a little bit frustrating because EVERYTHING is group work... and my group has decided to sleep and shower.. but we have plenty of time so it should be ok. Besides, that means I get to go online really quick :)
But I should get back... Sorry I don't have anything really fun today. We have to do work sometimes though right? I'm pretty sure tomorrow is boring as well. Oh well... I'm still in Rome and it's still wonderful. I'm getting really excited to go to Florence and Venice though (especially Florence as I haven't been there before and it won't be such a BIG city...)
I love you all and hope all is well!
Ash
I'm working on my Italian! Did you know that Gratzi is pronounced Grat-zee-ay? It is... :)
Haha I feel really dumb here not even being able to properly say easy phrases so I'm trying to learn and use them. It's kind of fun! We're all also working on learning the city. We've gotten the hang of some of it but roads here NEVER seem to go straight.
Last night we ate at this really good restaurant. It was a little expensive but I tried rissoto and it was DELICIOUS! It's basically just rice... but still that's pretty adventurous for me
Today isn't exciting. We had lecture this morning, then we have lecture this afternoon. We also have an assignment to do today and a 3 page paper to write. We're all just working on stuff today. I don't think any of us will really go out or do anything. It's a little bit frustrating because EVERYTHING is group work... and my group has decided to sleep and shower.. but we have plenty of time so it should be ok. Besides, that means I get to go online really quick :)
But I should get back... Sorry I don't have anything really fun today. We have to do work sometimes though right? I'm pretty sure tomorrow is boring as well. Oh well... I'm still in Rome and it's still wonderful. I'm getting really excited to go to Florence and Venice though (especially Florence as I haven't been there before and it won't be such a BIG city...)
I love you all and hope all is well!
Ash
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Day 4
Hello Again!
Today we had a short lecture and then went to see a lot of churches. One of them was "the pope's church". This houses the chair where the pope must sit before he can actually become the pope! He holds mass there as well. I believe it had the burial of John the Baptist but I might be getting that one confused with one of the other Disciples... Here all churches have relics in their alters. We went to one that supposedly had wood from the manger in its alter. It was very cool. The churches were so beautiful. We also saw this smaller church which had the oldest known mosaic in it. It was pretty... we saw a lot of frescos (paintings done with plaster) as well. Seeing art that is SO old makes my head spin a little. The paintings were so pretty...
It's also interesting because I have been learning about the different styles in my class. It's a lot of history and history of art and how these things were used as visual communication. A lot of it was propaganda. They used the immense buildings and such to show power.
After this the girls in my room and I went shopping :) I got a cute sweater... I'm a little excited
I think tonight we are going to get something to eat and then go to a pub that is having karaoke night... that should be interesting. A lot of people were excited about it though so I figured I'd give it a shot!
That's about it, keep leaving comments :) I love reading them... it makes me feel like I'm not SO far away...
I love you all!
Ash
P.S. Dad: Raphael was a famous artist... try google...
Today we had a short lecture and then went to see a lot of churches. One of them was "the pope's church". This houses the chair where the pope must sit before he can actually become the pope! He holds mass there as well. I believe it had the burial of John the Baptist but I might be getting that one confused with one of the other Disciples... Here all churches have relics in their alters. We went to one that supposedly had wood from the manger in its alter. It was very cool. The churches were so beautiful. We also saw this smaller church which had the oldest known mosaic in it. It was pretty... we saw a lot of frescos (paintings done with plaster) as well. Seeing art that is SO old makes my head spin a little. The paintings were so pretty...
It's also interesting because I have been learning about the different styles in my class. It's a lot of history and history of art and how these things were used as visual communication. A lot of it was propaganda. They used the immense buildings and such to show power.
After this the girls in my room and I went shopping :) I got a cute sweater... I'm a little excited
I think tonight we are going to get something to eat and then go to a pub that is having karaoke night... that should be interesting. A lot of people were excited about it though so I figured I'd give it a shot!
That's about it, keep leaving comments :) I love reading them... it makes me feel like I'm not SO far away...
I love you all!
Ash
P.S. Dad: Raphael was a famous artist... try google...
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Day 3
Hey all!
Today was BUSY... we had lecture for about 3 hours, I think I took about 6 pages of notes. After that we had a quick lunch and then headed out.
Today we saw the Colosseum, it was AMAZING. It's HUGE! The floor is gone so you can see into the chambers where the kept the "gladiators" aka prisoners and the animals. They would raise them up through a pulley system to the floor. It was very cool. It looks just like the pictures.
We also went back to the forum, there is so much there. We did not get there in time to walk through it though- another day. There is so much history there...
After that we went to the Pantheon. This time we went in. It's large but it's in the middle of a bunch of hotels, not what you might imagine. It was very cool though. Raphael is buried there too.
Then we ate dinner by the Pantheon. It was good, I haven't had anything AMAZING yet though.
We also went into a church which has the body of St. Catherine (as in the school....) and a bunch of other saints.
That's about it, we are back for the night. Everybody is pretty tired. I think we might just chill and do our reading.
I hope all is well!
Lots of love,
Ashley
Today was BUSY... we had lecture for about 3 hours, I think I took about 6 pages of notes. After that we had a quick lunch and then headed out.
Today we saw the Colosseum, it was AMAZING. It's HUGE! The floor is gone so you can see into the chambers where the kept the "gladiators" aka prisoners and the animals. They would raise them up through a pulley system to the floor. It was very cool. It looks just like the pictures.
We also went back to the forum, there is so much there. We did not get there in time to walk through it though- another day. There is so much history there...
After that we went to the Pantheon. This time we went in. It's large but it's in the middle of a bunch of hotels, not what you might imagine. It was very cool though. Raphael is buried there too.
Then we ate dinner by the Pantheon. It was good, I haven't had anything AMAZING yet though.
We also went into a church which has the body of St. Catherine (as in the school....) and a bunch of other saints.
That's about it, we are back for the night. Everybody is pretty tired. I think we might just chill and do our reading.
I hope all is well!
Lots of love,
Ashley
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Day 2
Hello!
Today has been much better than yesterday, got a little sleep, feeling a lot better, and got to see some cool things.
However we were rudely awaken this morning. Our room is RIGHT next to the breakfast room and EVERYTHING echoes in this place... so we were woken up at like 6am with that... and will probably have that happen every morning. I could probably sleep through it but my roomies were freaking out so I got up too. Oh well... 6 am is kinda sleeping in for me compared to when I have practice. Then this morning we had lecture which was very laid back and interesting which is good. After lecture we went out to "explore". We saw a lot of very cool things, my favorite might have been old Rome. We saw the Roman forum ruins and ruins of what would have been a Roman "mall". It was very cool. We also saw the Pantheon. Unfortunately today is the one of three days every year that it is closed so we didn't get to go in. We'll go another day though so it's ok. We also saw the Trevi Fountain. Yes, I made a wish :) We saw so much more and I already have more pictures than I know what to do with. It's very interesting though so I'm enjoying it. We also had some pretty good pizza and "the best gelato in Italy".
I have learned one thing about Romans... they don't do lines. They push and shove and budge and whoever is best at those three things gets helped first. It's really annoying.... I don't like being crowded and touched by people I don't know. Ick... Oh and the city is dirty. I really think I'm going to like Florence better, and I definitely like Venice better so I'm excited for the second half of the trip. But still, it's Rome and it's amazing.
We now have the afternoon off... most everybody is napping. I might do that too, or read for lecture tomorrow. I'm not sure what we'll do tonight. Maybe explore. Probably go to bed early.
Oh, and I did go out last night. We just walked around the city and got ourselves thoroughly lost for about 4 hours. Finally we split up into the people who actually wanted to get home and the people who said they wanted to get home but really just wanted to wander around. New years was kind of a bust though. A few of us were talking in the hotel and didn't even realize it happened. Apparently the other group though found this cool concert and did the whole new years thing. One of the girls got pick-pocketed though and lost her camera. :( Not good.
That's all for now. I'm still trying to get pictures up on here... I have a lot though so it'll be hard to pick and choose.
I hope everybody is doing well! I finally got a phone card so I'm going to try to use it today/tomorrow.
and HAPPY NEW YEARS!
I love you all,
Ash
Today has been much better than yesterday, got a little sleep, feeling a lot better, and got to see some cool things.
However we were rudely awaken this morning. Our room is RIGHT next to the breakfast room and EVERYTHING echoes in this place... so we were woken up at like 6am with that... and will probably have that happen every morning. I could probably sleep through it but my roomies were freaking out so I got up too. Oh well... 6 am is kinda sleeping in for me compared to when I have practice. Then this morning we had lecture which was very laid back and interesting which is good. After lecture we went out to "explore". We saw a lot of very cool things, my favorite might have been old Rome. We saw the Roman forum ruins and ruins of what would have been a Roman "mall". It was very cool. We also saw the Pantheon. Unfortunately today is the one of three days every year that it is closed so we didn't get to go in. We'll go another day though so it's ok. We also saw the Trevi Fountain. Yes, I made a wish :) We saw so much more and I already have more pictures than I know what to do with. It's very interesting though so I'm enjoying it. We also had some pretty good pizza and "the best gelato in Italy".
I have learned one thing about Romans... they don't do lines. They push and shove and budge and whoever is best at those three things gets helped first. It's really annoying.... I don't like being crowded and touched by people I don't know. Ick... Oh and the city is dirty. I really think I'm going to like Florence better, and I definitely like Venice better so I'm excited for the second half of the trip. But still, it's Rome and it's amazing.
We now have the afternoon off... most everybody is napping. I might do that too, or read for lecture tomorrow. I'm not sure what we'll do tonight. Maybe explore. Probably go to bed early.
Oh, and I did go out last night. We just walked around the city and got ourselves thoroughly lost for about 4 hours. Finally we split up into the people who actually wanted to get home and the people who said they wanted to get home but really just wanted to wander around. New years was kind of a bust though. A few of us were talking in the hotel and didn't even realize it happened. Apparently the other group though found this cool concert and did the whole new years thing. One of the girls got pick-pocketed though and lost her camera. :( Not good.
That's all for now. I'm still trying to get pictures up on here... I have a lot though so it'll be hard to pick and choose.
I hope everybody is doing well! I finally got a phone card so I'm going to try to use it today/tomorrow.
and HAPPY NEW YEARS!
I love you all,
Ash
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