Wow - the past week has been so busy that I don't even know where to start! Actually, I think that it has been nearly two weeks since I last updated this. Sorry about the really long wait! Quickly, I just want to say that I think my midterms went fairly well, I got A's in three classes, and a C in ethics. That one was kind of disappointing, but honestly I was expecting it. It was one of those tests where I knew the material, but while actually sitting there I couldn't organize my thoughts. Oh well...
But, on a better note I was so excited to see Mom last week! We had been talking almost every night the previous week about hotels, trains, last minute reminders and arrangements, and packing. I will admit that I was so worried about midterms thought, that I didn't get completely excited and filled with anticipation until my last midterm was done on Thursday. By Saturday morning, I was on the shuttle bus to pick Mom up at the airport! I could hardly believe it when we met up in the airport - she was really here, halfway around the world, in Italy with me!
We took a crazy taxi ride back to my apartment (the taxis drive really fast here), where she dropped off her bags and showed me all of the goodies that she had brought for me, including a box of my all-time favorite girl scout cookies (by the way, they are already gone), and some homemade kruscikis that Busia had sent up for me - they are a polish deep-fried cookie thing tied into a bow shape, and absolutely amazing. That totally made my day - so thanks once again! We checked out Santa Croce first, and I then proceeded to, according to Mom, "drag her all over the city instead of letting her sleep." We went to my favorite outdoor food market, Sant'ambrogio to get some fruit and veggies, and then went on a walking tour of the city: the Duomo and the Baptistry (with an amazing gold mosaic ceiling), the mercato San Lorenzo, through the Piazza's, and Ponte Vecchio.
The next day, and a good night sleep later (I went to the train station in the morning to sort out some train ticket issues, while Mom slept in) and we were ready for another amazing day together in Florence. I took Mom up to my absolute favorite spot of the city - the Piazzale Michelangelo, San Miniato, and what I refer to as "the woods" - a small green area next to the church that is always empty and a great place to just walk by myself. It's almost a relief to be able to show someone this area, so that they know what I am talking about when I get back home. Unfortunately, the cemetary was closed (the hours can be confusing here) so we came back the next day to check that out, Monday! After exploring San Miniato cemetary, we headed to the Boboli Gardens for the remainder of the afternoon. (We had talked about climbing the dome, but the line was insane when we got there - I was completely frustrated, not being used to the tourism yet, but Mom just calmly suggested that we head back up to San Miniato instead. She really did managed to keep me calm a lot that week when things seemed to go wrong - thanks Mom!) Early that evening, we packed, walked to Statione Santa Maria Novella, and boarded a train on our way to Salzburg, Austria!
One thing that has happened in Florence, is that the tourists have started to come out in flocks. Sometimes it literally feels like picking my way through the tour groups following the leader with the umbrella or the random trinket taped to the top of a long pole is like trying to pick my way through a flock of sheep. (Not that I've ever done that, but hey - I can imagine it!) I think I'm finally starting to understand the love/hate relationship of tourism. The money it brings in is what keeps the city going, but it really can try your patience day after day.
That's as far as I am going to go for today - it's getting late here and I want to actually wake up tomorrow for a day trip to Assisi.
By the way - I am slowly putting up more pictures on Flickr, keep looking!
Monday, March 29, 2010
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Midterms already!
I finished writing the blog about my weekend trip almost two days ago, and somehow managed to not publish it. Sorry everyone!
I just wanted to make a few quick notes, to let you all know a little about what has been happening this week.
1 - It snowed! Yes, I'm in Italy, in March, and it was snowing (according to weather.com, it was actually colder here in Florence than in Wisconsin on Tuesday). I just had to tell you all that. Mom's coming up to visit soon, and I was hoping to be able to send some of my warmer clothes home with her - instead, she's planning on bringing a winter coat!
2 - Trains in Europe are not fun to try to plan, especially when you only have about a week and a half left until the trip, or right around Easter time. Mom and I are planning to go to Salzburg, and I finally managed to get tickets today, but trying to plan it was unbelievable. So, thanks Mom for doing so much of the work online! Don't get me wrong, trains are still the best way to travel in Europe - but if anyone is planning a trip soon, don't wait too long to start looking at any trains that are international!
3 - I have midterms next week. That means that half of my time in Italy is up - unbelievable. The time has just flown by, and there is still so much that I want to do! It also means that I really have to study this weekend though, I don't feel as prepared going into midterms yet as I do at SNC. That worries me, but in the same way, I'm still having a hard time getting too concerned about school when I am exploring Italy. I really need to find a good balance between fun, relaxation, and schoolwork right now.
4 - I got hit by a pigeon today. Literally. I honestly think I'm still in shock about that. I was walking down the street back to my apartment, and as usual, there were pigeons in the road. Well, a car came by and scared them, so the pigeon jumped and flew away from the car, and then hit my arm in it's desperate escape! I never thought that I would ever in my life be run into by a wild pigeon - very strange...
I just wanted to make a few quick notes, to let you all know a little about what has been happening this week.
1 - It snowed! Yes, I'm in Italy, in March, and it was snowing (according to weather.com, it was actually colder here in Florence than in Wisconsin on Tuesday). I just had to tell you all that. Mom's coming up to visit soon, and I was hoping to be able to send some of my warmer clothes home with her - instead, she's planning on bringing a winter coat!
2 - Trains in Europe are not fun to try to plan, especially when you only have about a week and a half left until the trip, or right around Easter time. Mom and I are planning to go to Salzburg, and I finally managed to get tickets today, but trying to plan it was unbelievable. So, thanks Mom for doing so much of the work online! Don't get me wrong, trains are still the best way to travel in Europe - but if anyone is planning a trip soon, don't wait too long to start looking at any trains that are international!
3 - I have midterms next week. That means that half of my time in Italy is up - unbelievable. The time has just flown by, and there is still so much that I want to do! It also means that I really have to study this weekend though, I don't feel as prepared going into midterms yet as I do at SNC. That worries me, but in the same way, I'm still having a hard time getting too concerned about school when I am exploring Italy. I really need to find a good balance between fun, relaxation, and schoolwork right now.
4 - I got hit by a pigeon today. Literally. I honestly think I'm still in shock about that. I was walking down the street back to my apartment, and as usual, there were pigeons in the road. Well, a car came by and scared them, so the pigeon jumped and flew away from the car, and then hit my arm in it's desperate escape! I never thought that I would ever in my life be run into by a wild pigeon - very strange...
Monday, March 8, 2010
Fun but Chilly Weekend
So this past weekend I went on a trip arranged through my school! We left Florence at 6:45 in the morning on Friday so that by bus we could arrive in Napels around 1:00 for lunch. I was so tired, I hadn't gotten much sleep for the past couple nights, and now I honestly can't remember what route I took to walk across the city to the meeting point. Not really a good idea for keeping myself healthy, but I survived and have caught up on sleep. Anyway, after a long nap and longer bus ride, we finally arrived in Napels.
Napels is actually the home of pizza, and particularly Margherita Pizza (which is topped with sliced tomatoes, fresh Mozzarella, and basil leaves), so of course we had that for lunch, along with some truly delicious appetizers! It was absolutely delicious, but unfortunately, as soon as I ate the pizza, I started to feel sick. We then went on a two hour guided walking tour of the city, in the rain. I am really glad that I saw Napels, especially two of the churches which were absolutely gorgeous, but honestly I wasn't overly impressed. It is a large city, about one million people, and definitely "acts" like one. It's loud, modern, dirty, the people are crazy drivers, and the crime rate is higher than most of Italy. Although, we did get to see Mt. Vesuvius for the first time which was pretty cool! It may look like any other mountain, but there really is something enthralling about staring at an active volcano.
After Napels, we took a bus to Sorrento, checked into our hotel, and had dinner. The resturant had a meal of gnocchi (a traditionally Italian course, that is very starchy, made of potato and pasta and then covered with a sauce), veal, and "Delizia" for dessert. I was still feeling pretty sick at this point and couldn't really eat the gnocchi or bread, so I decided to do what I have never had never done before - try the veal. For anyone who knows, although I eat meat, I can get very squeamish if I think about the fact that it used to be a living animal, especially when eating red meat. It's something that I haven't been able to get past for a few years now. I have never been able to bring myself to try veal before. It was very good, and I could eat it without making myself feel worse, but I did have to work to not think about the animals. I also had a few bites of Delizia - amazing! Delizia is a popular dessert in the area, made of spongecake, filled and topped with lemon cream. Sorrento and the surrounding areas are known for their lemons and their lemon products.
I pretty much crashed as soon as we got back to the hotel, I was so tired. But, I woke up Saturday morning well rested, feeling better, and ready for a day on the island of Capri! Capri is this gorgeous little island, basically a mountain or two sticking up out of the sea, which is an absolutely clear and beautiful blue. It was sunny that morning, and probably the warmest period of time that we had (the rest of the weekend was pretty chilly - ironic since we were in a tropical environment!) Buses take you from the marina up to the city - we were packed in like sardines, and then taken on about as wild a ride as you could get while going up steep roads. Then I went with most of the group to a "beach" on the other side of the island. Capri doesn't really have sand beaches, so the place we were going was basically where the water met up with the rocks on the coastline. The hike down was long, but absolutely beautiful, as was the coast. Of course, you have to realized that we just hiked down to the beach from the main city - which is a lot higher on the hill! Hiking back up wasn't as much fun... but it was totally worth it. I spent the rest of the day just exploring the island with Sarah and Melissa after a nice lunch.
Sunday was the day that I had really been looking forward too - Pompeii! Pompeii had been on my list of "must see" cities and it didn't disappoint! Actually, it made me think again that maybe I should have considered archeology more.... Not really - I love design, archeology is just an interest. It was so amazing to see an entire city still laid out as it was hundreds of years ago. You know, if you go anywhere else, you may just see a building here, a few artifacts there, but Pompeii is literally an ENTIRE city! It made it really easy to understand what life was like back then, how people lived, and what they valued. You could go inside the houses, walk along the actually streets, see the frescoes, walk into the stadium, find the restaurants, and explore the roman forum. We had a guided tour of the ruins, and I found everything that she said so interesting. I also couldn't put my camera down (I didn't realized it at the time, but I took almost 200 pictures there - not sure what I'm going to do with that). I honestly don't know how to go into more detail about some of the things that we saw there, it was so amazing and I ended up learning so much more about the city.
I think that's about it for the weekend, but I put up more pictures on Flickr from the trip this weekend! Ciao!
Napels is actually the home of pizza, and particularly Margherita Pizza (which is topped with sliced tomatoes, fresh Mozzarella, and basil leaves), so of course we had that for lunch, along with some truly delicious appetizers! It was absolutely delicious, but unfortunately, as soon as I ate the pizza, I started to feel sick. We then went on a two hour guided walking tour of the city, in the rain. I am really glad that I saw Napels, especially two of the churches which were absolutely gorgeous, but honestly I wasn't overly impressed. It is a large city, about one million people, and definitely "acts" like one. It's loud, modern, dirty, the people are crazy drivers, and the crime rate is higher than most of Italy. Although, we did get to see Mt. Vesuvius for the first time which was pretty cool! It may look like any other mountain, but there really is something enthralling about staring at an active volcano.
After Napels, we took a bus to Sorrento, checked into our hotel, and had dinner. The resturant had a meal of gnocchi (a traditionally Italian course, that is very starchy, made of potato and pasta and then covered with a sauce), veal, and "Delizia" for dessert. I was still feeling pretty sick at this point and couldn't really eat the gnocchi or bread, so I decided to do what I have never had never done before - try the veal. For anyone who knows, although I eat meat, I can get very squeamish if I think about the fact that it used to be a living animal, especially when eating red meat. It's something that I haven't been able to get past for a few years now. I have never been able to bring myself to try veal before. It was very good, and I could eat it without making myself feel worse, but I did have to work to not think about the animals. I also had a few bites of Delizia - amazing! Delizia is a popular dessert in the area, made of spongecake, filled and topped with lemon cream. Sorrento and the surrounding areas are known for their lemons and their lemon products.
I pretty much crashed as soon as we got back to the hotel, I was so tired. But, I woke up Saturday morning well rested, feeling better, and ready for a day on the island of Capri! Capri is this gorgeous little island, basically a mountain or two sticking up out of the sea, which is an absolutely clear and beautiful blue. It was sunny that morning, and probably the warmest period of time that we had (the rest of the weekend was pretty chilly - ironic since we were in a tropical environment!) Buses take you from the marina up to the city - we were packed in like sardines, and then taken on about as wild a ride as you could get while going up steep roads. Then I went with most of the group to a "beach" on the other side of the island. Capri doesn't really have sand beaches, so the place we were going was basically where the water met up with the rocks on the coastline. The hike down was long, but absolutely beautiful, as was the coast. Of course, you have to realized that we just hiked down to the beach from the main city - which is a lot higher on the hill! Hiking back up wasn't as much fun... but it was totally worth it. I spent the rest of the day just exploring the island with Sarah and Melissa after a nice lunch.
Sunday was the day that I had really been looking forward too - Pompeii! Pompeii had been on my list of "must see" cities and it didn't disappoint! Actually, it made me think again that maybe I should have considered archeology more.... Not really - I love design, archeology is just an interest. It was so amazing to see an entire city still laid out as it was hundreds of years ago. You know, if you go anywhere else, you may just see a building here, a few artifacts there, but Pompeii is literally an ENTIRE city! It made it really easy to understand what life was like back then, how people lived, and what they valued. You could go inside the houses, walk along the actually streets, see the frescoes, walk into the stadium, find the restaurants, and explore the roman forum. We had a guided tour of the ruins, and I found everything that she said so interesting. I also couldn't put my camera down (I didn't realized it at the time, but I took almost 200 pictures there - not sure what I'm going to do with that). I honestly don't know how to go into more detail about some of the things that we saw there, it was so amazing and I ended up learning so much more about the city.
I think that's about it for the weekend, but I put up more pictures on Flickr from the trip this weekend! Ciao!
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