This past weekend we took our group trip to Roma. Unfortunately, our tour didn't really take us to any sites I hadn't seen 3 or so weeks before with my parents. They did provide us with a tour guide to tell us more information about all the sites though. Her name was Rita and she was a hilarious tour guide. She took us to the Colloseum and the Roman Forum, the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps and the Pantheon the first day. Some of my friends from high school are studying in Rome for the semester so a few of us met up with them for dinner that night. Jeff took us to Rome's best pizza place. The crowds and the pizza definitely proved that the pizzeria lived up to its name. I got a pizza with mozzerlla cheese and all kinds of vegetables. It was probably the best pizza I've had in Italy! Jeff also took us to his favorite gelateria. That was also some of the best gelato I've had in Italy. The gelateria made up all of its own unique flavors and everything was so creamy and delicious. I got carmel gelato with little chocolate cookies. They also dipped our gelato in chocolate like they do with soft-serve ice cream in the States. It was great!
The next day we had to get up at 7am to go on our tour of the Vatican Museums and St. Peter's Basilica. We didn't get to see nearly as much of the Vatican Museums as I would have liked to, but we did get to go down into the catacombs and see the tombs of old popes. That was interesting because I hadn't seen it before. Down in the catacombs we also got to see ruins from the original St. Peter's Basilica built in the 4th century. Since we were with a tour guide we also got to walk through Vatican City a bit and enter into the Basilica from a special enterance. She took us through the Vatican and explained some interesting facts and tid-bits. It was interesting, but not as impressive as it was seeing it for the first time.
That night our director, Lorenzo, made reservations for us to eat an authentic Roman style dinner. We had so much food and wine we could barely move after we were done eating.
We had also made reservations for that night at an ice bar. This was a vodka bar made entirely out of ice. It was so cool. They dressed us up in these space age parkas and gloves and sent us through this air-tight door into this room made entirely out of ice. The air was so cold, but it was such a next experience we didn't even notice. They had little igloo like rooms carved out of the walls for us to sit in and they served us drinks in glasses made entirely of ice. It was so cool, but we couldn't stay for too long because it was -5 degrees in the bar.
On Sunday we were so exhusted we decided to sleep in late. Once we got up we went to St. Peter's Basilica to see the Pope address the crowd as he does every Sunday. It was a cool event to see, but I was shocked at how empty the square was. I was expecting to see so many more people there than we saw. Soon after that we had to head back to meet up with the rest of the group and head back to Florence.
Tomorrow I am off to London to spend the weekend with my roommate, Jordan, who is studying there for the semester. It was so nice to see faces from home last weekend in Rome, I can't wait to see another this weekend!!
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Cinque Terre
Yesterday we took a day trip to Cinque Terre. It is a region right along the coast north of Tuscany where 5 towns are connected by bridges and hiking trails. Our goal for the day was to hike from the first town all the way to the fifth town.
The day started out great. We were up bright and early, got to Cinque Terre by 10:30am, and were set to go. The hike started out very nice and easy. The first trail we walked down was called Lover's Lane. It had beautiful views and it was full of locks placed there by couples. In Italy a lock symbolized the strength and impermeability of a relationship. We see couples places them all over. This path was full!
We couldn't walk from the second town to the third town because a landslide had blocked it. For this one we took the train. It was a bit of a bummer because the train runs through tunnels so we couldn't even see the landscape we were missing. The beauty of the third town certainly made up for it. This town seemed to be located out on a part of the coast that jetted into the sea more than the rest. We were able to climb up to the top of a tower and look out over the ocean. It was one of the best views of the trip! After doing that we decided to head on to the next town. We had heard the hikes got harder as you went so we didn't want to waste too much time on the easy ones.
We started on out what we thought was the trail to the 4th town. After hiking straight up hill for about an hour we started to think we may not have been going the right way. The hike was only supposed to take an hour and at that point we were still walking up. Also, we had only seen people on their way down this path, never up like us. Eventually, we stopped to ask an Australian family what direction the path lead to. Of course, they told us we had just hiked an hour and a half in the wrong direction on the most difficult path in the region! At that point it was closer for us to continue on and head back to the second town. After about another hour of hiking and a lot of getting lost we made it back to our original starting point.
We were so exhausted we had to sit down and have lunch for a very long time. After we recovered a bit of our energy we hopped back on the train. This time we weren't taking any chances and we rode right to the fourth town. From here we hiking the final (correct) trial from the fourth to the fifth city. This was my absolute favorite part of the whole hike. The hike was quite hard, very steep and very narrow paths, but the views were amazing. The fourth town was probably the prettiest and the coastline was breath-taking. We also saw a lot of vineyards and waterfalls along our hike. Connor was also quite the gentleman and offered to carry our bags for us during this part of the hike. He looked so funny with my backpack, his backpack, and Lindsay's purse on. I really appreciated him helping me out like that.
We were so excited when we finally reached the fifth town and the beach. Even though it was almost 7pm and getting quite cold, we all put our feet in the water. We got to the beach just time for the sunset! It was a great end to the hike!
I can't decide which place I liked better. The Amalfi Coast or Cinque Terre. They are similar in that they are both beautiful coastal towns nestled in between the cliffs and the bright blue-green ocean. This is where the similarities stop. The ability to walk along the entire coast and see so many different views was one you could only get in Cinque Terre. Capri and Positano seemed to be much more about the shopping and attracting the wealthy for vacations. Here we hiked 15km up and down mountains in order to see the beautiful views. I loved the experience and we all decided that was one of our best days in Italy so far.
pictures
The day started out great. We were up bright and early, got to Cinque Terre by 10:30am, and were set to go. The hike started out very nice and easy. The first trail we walked down was called Lover's Lane. It had beautiful views and it was full of locks placed there by couples. In Italy a lock symbolized the strength and impermeability of a relationship. We see couples places them all over. This path was full!
We couldn't walk from the second town to the third town because a landslide had blocked it. For this one we took the train. It was a bit of a bummer because the train runs through tunnels so we couldn't even see the landscape we were missing. The beauty of the third town certainly made up for it. This town seemed to be located out on a part of the coast that jetted into the sea more than the rest. We were able to climb up to the top of a tower and look out over the ocean. It was one of the best views of the trip! After doing that we decided to head on to the next town. We had heard the hikes got harder as you went so we didn't want to waste too much time on the easy ones.
We started on out what we thought was the trail to the 4th town. After hiking straight up hill for about an hour we started to think we may not have been going the right way. The hike was only supposed to take an hour and at that point we were still walking up. Also, we had only seen people on their way down this path, never up like us. Eventually, we stopped to ask an Australian family what direction the path lead to. Of course, they told us we had just hiked an hour and a half in the wrong direction on the most difficult path in the region! At that point it was closer for us to continue on and head back to the second town. After about another hour of hiking and a lot of getting lost we made it back to our original starting point.
We were so exhausted we had to sit down and have lunch for a very long time. After we recovered a bit of our energy we hopped back on the train. This time we weren't taking any chances and we rode right to the fourth town. From here we hiking the final (correct) trial from the fourth to the fifth city. This was my absolute favorite part of the whole hike. The hike was quite hard, very steep and very narrow paths, but the views were amazing. The fourth town was probably the prettiest and the coastline was breath-taking. We also saw a lot of vineyards and waterfalls along our hike. Connor was also quite the gentleman and offered to carry our bags for us during this part of the hike. He looked so funny with my backpack, his backpack, and Lindsay's purse on. I really appreciated him helping me out like that.
We were so excited when we finally reached the fifth town and the beach. Even though it was almost 7pm and getting quite cold, we all put our feet in the water. We got to the beach just time for the sunset! It was a great end to the hike!
I can't decide which place I liked better. The Amalfi Coast or Cinque Terre. They are similar in that they are both beautiful coastal towns nestled in between the cliffs and the bright blue-green ocean. This is where the similarities stop. The ability to walk along the entire coast and see so many different views was one you could only get in Cinque Terre. Capri and Positano seemed to be much more about the shopping and attracting the wealthy for vacations. Here we hiked 15km up and down mountains in order to see the beautiful views. I loved the experience and we all decided that was one of our best days in Italy so far.
pictures
Sunday, October 24, 2010
It's been a long time
Well, its been a very long time since I've had enough time and energy to sit down and write here. My parents had been here for the past 9 days and the week before that I had mid-terms. Fortunately things are going to slow down for a bit now.
I had a great time with my parents. We spent about 5 days in Florence. We did all of the typical touristy things as well as a few not so touristy things. I did make my mother ride a really crowded public transportation bus. We saw the Duomo and the Uffizi (my dad still can't pronounce it right). We also went to a wine tasting. That was one of my favorite parts. It was just the three of us and the owner of the wine store. He let us try about 8 different wines and really took the time to educate us on wine. It was a great experience! We also saw the David, Dante's house, and climbed (though my mom a bit begrudgingly) all the way to the San Minato al Monte to hear the monks chant. Of course we also did a lot of shopping and eating and wine drinking. My dad took full advantage of the free flowing wine and had it at every lunch and every dinner!
We also spent a day in Pisa. It's impossible to describe the Leaning Tower. The pictures really do not show just how much the building is leaning. It doesn't seem physically possible for it to still be standing, but it is. We climbed all the way to the top. We even got my mom to climb up!
We also spent 2 days in Rome. That was really great! We got to see St. Peter's Basilica, the Vatican Museum, and the Sistine Chapel. The Sistine Chapel is breathing taking and St. Peter's is beautiful. The Vatican museum was a bit too large for me. We spent almost 3.5 hours in there and didn't see nearly everything! We also saw the Spanish steps and the Trevi Fountain. We also had a great dinner at a local causal restaurant. The waiters were so fun and joked around with us the whole night. A very drunk couple asked my father if he was my boyfriend! The food was also extremely delicious! On our second day we saw the Colosseum and some Roman ruins and the Pantheon. We also met up with my friend from high school who is studying in Rome and had lunch with him. I liked Rome, but it was too big of a city for me. I was really happy to get back to Florence and my comfort zone.
Now its back to school for the second half of my time here.
I had a great time with my parents. We spent about 5 days in Florence. We did all of the typical touristy things as well as a few not so touristy things. I did make my mother ride a really crowded public transportation bus. We saw the Duomo and the Uffizi (my dad still can't pronounce it right). We also went to a wine tasting. That was one of my favorite parts. It was just the three of us and the owner of the wine store. He let us try about 8 different wines and really took the time to educate us on wine. It was a great experience! We also saw the David, Dante's house, and climbed (though my mom a bit begrudgingly) all the way to the San Minato al Monte to hear the monks chant. Of course we also did a lot of shopping and eating and wine drinking. My dad took full advantage of the free flowing wine and had it at every lunch and every dinner!
We also spent a day in Pisa. It's impossible to describe the Leaning Tower. The pictures really do not show just how much the building is leaning. It doesn't seem physically possible for it to still be standing, but it is. We climbed all the way to the top. We even got my mom to climb up!
We also spent 2 days in Rome. That was really great! We got to see St. Peter's Basilica, the Vatican Museum, and the Sistine Chapel. The Sistine Chapel is breathing taking and St. Peter's is beautiful. The Vatican museum was a bit too large for me. We spent almost 3.5 hours in there and didn't see nearly everything! We also saw the Spanish steps and the Trevi Fountain. We also had a great dinner at a local causal restaurant. The waiters were so fun and joked around with us the whole night. A very drunk couple asked my father if he was my boyfriend! The food was also extremely delicious! On our second day we saw the Colosseum and some Roman ruins and the Pantheon. We also met up with my friend from high school who is studying in Rome and had lunch with him. I liked Rome, but it was too big of a city for me. I was really happy to get back to Florence and my comfort zone.
Now its back to school for the second half of my time here.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Monday, October 4, 2010
Florence Week 4
This past weekend we took a day trip to Siena and San Gimignano with our school. The towns were beautiful but it was really cold and rainy, which detracted from our experience. I did not enjoy Siena as much as San Gimignano. San Gimignano is one of the oldest towns left standing in Italy. Its original medieval walls are still intact around the city. It also sits up on a hill overlooking vineyards on every side. You could not find a bad view in the city. We also had gelato from the gelateria voted best in Italy. I tried cinnamon gelato and it was amazing! We didn't have too much time in either city, so we walked around a bit, but really didn't get to see many sites.
On Saturday we climbed up to the Piazza Michaelanglo and visited the San Miniato al Monte. This is the oldest church in Florence and it is one of the few monasteries still holding services. We listened to the monks chant in Latin. It was absolutely beautiful, just like what you hear in old movies sometimes. Only it was even more breathtaking to hear the chanting echo and reverberate off the many arches within the church.
On Sunday we went to see a Fiorentina soccer game. It was quite an event. We saw at least 3 armored cars packed full of swat team members armed and ready to control any situations that many have broken out. Fortunately, there were no issues at this game, but it was so crowded that we weren't able to sit in our seats. We had to stand in the back of our section and just watch the game from there. It was still very fun, but I think I would have enjoyed it more if I had been able to sit in my seat. Hearing all of the chants and seeing the enthusiasm of these fans (of a team that is not particularly good or successful) was an experience I'm really glad I had.
On Saturday we climbed up to the Piazza Michaelanglo and visited the San Miniato al Monte. This is the oldest church in Florence and it is one of the few monasteries still holding services. We listened to the monks chant in Latin. It was absolutely beautiful, just like what you hear in old movies sometimes. Only it was even more breathtaking to hear the chanting echo and reverberate off the many arches within the church.
On Sunday we went to see a Fiorentina soccer game. It was quite an event. We saw at least 3 armored cars packed full of swat team members armed and ready to control any situations that many have broken out. Fortunately, there were no issues at this game, but it was so crowded that we weren't able to sit in our seats. We had to stand in the back of our section and just watch the game from there. It was still very fun, but I think I would have enjoyed it more if I had been able to sit in my seat. Hearing all of the chants and seeing the enthusiasm of these fans (of a team that is not particularly good or successful) was an experience I'm really glad I had.
Friday, September 24, 2010
This Week in Florence
Well this week has been pretty busy. I have classes all day Monday through Wednesday and I was in dire need of catching up on all the work I had put off in my travels the past two weekends. My classes aren't hard, they are simply long and boring. The Italian style of teaching is based around lecture, rather than discussion like in America. Its a bit difficult to get used to.
On Thursday I don't have any classes. Regardless, I still went to school to meet up with everyone for lunch. We found this restaurant that serves American style hamburgers and french fries. We've become weekly customers. It's always nice to have a taste of home every so often. We also did a little bit of shopping on Thursday. While we were in Italy's main department store, Coin, our shopping was interrupted by a male underwear fashion show. Only in Italy would you see male models walking around a department store to loud music in skin tight boxer-briefs. Needless to say, it was a surprise, but it wasn't the worst surprise we could have seen. Thursday night they had a mini-Oktoberfest/ beer tasting festival in the Piazza Santa Croce. We all decided to meet up and head over to the event. Unfortunately we didn't pay attention to the times of the event, and we got there right as it was closing. I had time to taste one beer (which was very good) but then the event shut down. So for the rest of the night we just walked around Florence, hung out, and stopped in a few bars. We're still exhausted from the past few weekends that we didn't try to do too much.
No one in our school has classes on Fridays so this is when CAPA takes us on mini field trips. Today we climbed up Mt. Cerceri which is the mountain where da Vinci's assistant attempted, and failed, the fly with their first flying machine. It was a very challenging hike, but we eventually made it up and got to see the beautiful view of Florence down below in the valley. On our way down the mountain (where Lorenzo our CAPA director chose a much easier route) we walked through Fiesole, a village of Florence. It was a beautiful site to see, but a whole lot of walking up and down very steep hills. Our hike ended at a very delicious pizza place, where we all ate far more pizza than any one person should ever consume. But it was so delicious and we were starving.
I forgot to charge my camera battery last night so I didn't have a camera to take pictures today, but Lindsay took a lot. So as soon as she puts her pictures up online I will have some to post here.
On Thursday I don't have any classes. Regardless, I still went to school to meet up with everyone for lunch. We found this restaurant that serves American style hamburgers and french fries. We've become weekly customers. It's always nice to have a taste of home every so often. We also did a little bit of shopping on Thursday. While we were in Italy's main department store, Coin, our shopping was interrupted by a male underwear fashion show. Only in Italy would you see male models walking around a department store to loud music in skin tight boxer-briefs. Needless to say, it was a surprise, but it wasn't the worst surprise we could have seen. Thursday night they had a mini-Oktoberfest/ beer tasting festival in the Piazza Santa Croce. We all decided to meet up and head over to the event. Unfortunately we didn't pay attention to the times of the event, and we got there right as it was closing. I had time to taste one beer (which was very good) but then the event shut down. So for the rest of the night we just walked around Florence, hung out, and stopped in a few bars. We're still exhausted from the past few weekends that we didn't try to do too much.
No one in our school has classes on Fridays so this is when CAPA takes us on mini field trips. Today we climbed up Mt. Cerceri which is the mountain where da Vinci's assistant attempted, and failed, the fly with their first flying machine. It was a very challenging hike, but we eventually made it up and got to see the beautiful view of Florence down below in the valley. On our way down the mountain (where Lorenzo our CAPA director chose a much easier route) we walked through Fiesole, a village of Florence. It was a beautiful site to see, but a whole lot of walking up and down very steep hills. Our hike ended at a very delicious pizza place, where we all ate far more pizza than any one person should ever consume. But it was so delicious and we were starving.
I forgot to charge my camera battery last night so I didn't have a camera to take pictures today, but Lindsay took a lot. So as soon as she puts her pictures up online I will have some to post here.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Oktoberfest 2010
I have been so busy in the past week I haven't had any time to write about my most recent adventures.
Over the weekend we traveled to Munich for the 200th Annual Oktoberfest. Lindsay has relatives who live in Petting, a suburb of Munich, so we were fortunate enough to be able to stay with them for the weekend. It was also great because we had German tour guides to take us around Munich and help us maneuver through Oktoberfest.
We arrived in Munich at 5:30am Friday morning after an 8 hour bus ride. We had taken some sleep medicine so we were able to get a bit of sleep, but it still wasn't great. However, we were in Munich and we were going to make the best of it. After a quick early breakfast, Lindsay's cousin, Stephanie, took us around the city. She showed us many of the historical sights in Munich. Sadly, I was so tired and so busy taking pictures that I don't recall the names of most of the places I now have pictures of. I believe many of them were governmental buildings. We were sure to rub the noses of the Lion. This is supposed to bring about good luck and I would say we had a weekend filled with good luck. After our sightseeing we went shopping. Lindsay was the most excited about shopping and she went to town haha. I was a little bit better but I did buy one designer purse. It was only 63 euros and I would have paid $120.00 in America, I couldn't pass up such a deal!!! By 11am our purses were drained and so were we. We decided to stop at a Starbuck to get some coffee. I could not wait to have American coffee (espresso just isn't the same). I must say, my experience in Starbucks was not quite what I expected it to be. After getting our coffee we sat down in the back of the restaurant to rest for a bit. There was an innocent looking woman sitting back there but we figured we would be quiet and not disturb her work. Well as soon as we sat down, she ripped off her headphones and started peppering me (because I was closest to her) with questions. In the beginning they were normal: Where are you from? Why are you in Europe? etc. But then thing started to get uncomfortable. She asked me what I was going to do after I finished my undergraduate studies. I told her of my intentions to go to law school. Well this set her off. She began ranting about how I do not have the personality to be a lawyer and I really need to consider an alternative plan. Fortunately Stephanie saw what was happening and made up some excuse about why we suddenly needed to leave. I was so thankful, I did not know how to handle this woman who was telling me my entire life plan was a horrible decision. Needless to say, my first introduction to Germans was not the best, but it got much better after that.
We ate lunch at the famous Hofbrauhaus. The atmosphere was incredible in this place. There is a polka band who plays continuously and there are thousands of people eating, drinking, and having a good time. It was like a mini-Oktoberfest! The food was delicious!
After lunch we headed out of Munich to Stephanie's house in Petting. It is about an hour outside the city so we got to see a lot of the German country-side on our drive. We showered, changed, and had a delicious dinner of swinebrotten made by Lindsay's aunt. Even though we were exhausted, we wanted to see Salzburg, Austria which is 10 minutes from Petting. We spent the evening walking around Salzburg. We saw the house where Mozart was born, many little shops, and other historical sites. Everything was closed while we were there so we didn't really know exactly what we were looking at, but it was still beautiful and nice to see.
Saturday- We began the day by traveling to the Herren-Chemsee. This is one of the three castles built by crazy King Ludwig II. This particular castle was built as a monument to King Louis XIV so it looks very similar to Versailles. We had to take a ferry across the Chemsee lake to reach the castle. It was a very pretty ride. Our view of the Alps was spectacular. The castle itself was amazing too. Right as we walked up to the castle all of the fountains turned on. Each fountain is a massive work of art within itself, but to see in with the water flowing out of it was amazing. My pictures will do a better job demonstrating what I mean than I can describe. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take any pictures in the castle (and it was strictly enforced, believe me we tried). But the castle was completely covered in gold leafing. It was one of the most ornate interiors I have ever seen. It was absolutely beautiful, but I was angered to learn that King Ludwig only spent 10 days of his whole life in the place.
After we finished our tour of the castle we headed to Oktoberfest. This festival was nothing like I expected it to be. Not only were there more people than I ever imagined possible, but it was also a lot more like a state fair than I expected. In addition to the massive beer tents, there were game booths, food stands, and rides. There were also people of all ages at the event and everyone was wearing their leiderhosen or durdels. It was truly an experience I will never forget. Some of the highlights of our day: there is a ride that requires one to jump onto a moving conveyor belt in order to be transported to the slide. Well Lindsay and I were sure that all of the people who kept falling down on the conveyor belt were just too drunk to do it correctly, so we wanted to try and demonstrate how its done. Boy were we wrong. When we finally saw the conveyor belt we realized that it actually moves at about 15 mph and you have to go from standing still to balancing on this speeding contraption. We no longer thought it would be a piece of cake, and sure enough, we both added to the long list of people who were laughed at as they rode up on their backs. (there are pictures in my album of us). Another highlight was having dinner in one of the beer gardens. We got there too late in the day to get into one of the tents, but we were lucky enough to get a table outside of the tent in the beer garden. We each had a stein of beer (which we later snuck out of place and still have)which was a massive amount of beer. The rest of the night was a lot warmer and a lot more fun after we had our drinks. The brezens (pretzels) that they served in the beer garden were also delicious, not to mention huge! Finally, while we were there we apparently met a famous german soap star. We clearly had no idea who he was, but the germans sharing our table told us all about who he was. We tried to get a picture with him but he was too busy for us Americans.
Finally, on Sunday we got up bright and early so that we could try and get into a tent at Oktoberfest and really experience the atmosphere. We were lucky and we did get into a tent. Wow, that experience was so amazing. Picture a giant tent with a capacity to hold 10,000 people already filled at noon. Beer had been flowing for 2 hours already and the band was just getting started. Every time a popular song came on, everyone jumped up on their seats and began singing as loud as they could. It was so much fun! I also had some of the best chicken I have ever had in the tent as my lunch. We had to catch our bus by 3:30 to head back to Florence so we didn't get to stay at Oktoberfest as long as I would have liked.
Overall, it was a great experience. I think that it was an experience that everyone should have at some point in his/her life!
pictures
Over the weekend we traveled to Munich for the 200th Annual Oktoberfest. Lindsay has relatives who live in Petting, a suburb of Munich, so we were fortunate enough to be able to stay with them for the weekend. It was also great because we had German tour guides to take us around Munich and help us maneuver through Oktoberfest.
We arrived in Munich at 5:30am Friday morning after an 8 hour bus ride. We had taken some sleep medicine so we were able to get a bit of sleep, but it still wasn't great. However, we were in Munich and we were going to make the best of it. After a quick early breakfast, Lindsay's cousin, Stephanie, took us around the city. She showed us many of the historical sights in Munich. Sadly, I was so tired and so busy taking pictures that I don't recall the names of most of the places I now have pictures of. I believe many of them were governmental buildings. We were sure to rub the noses of the Lion. This is supposed to bring about good luck and I would say we had a weekend filled with good luck. After our sightseeing we went shopping. Lindsay was the most excited about shopping and she went to town haha. I was a little bit better but I did buy one designer purse. It was only 63 euros and I would have paid $120.00 in America, I couldn't pass up such a deal!!! By 11am our purses were drained and so were we. We decided to stop at a Starbuck to get some coffee. I could not wait to have American coffee (espresso just isn't the same). I must say, my experience in Starbucks was not quite what I expected it to be. After getting our coffee we sat down in the back of the restaurant to rest for a bit. There was an innocent looking woman sitting back there but we figured we would be quiet and not disturb her work. Well as soon as we sat down, she ripped off her headphones and started peppering me (because I was closest to her) with questions. In the beginning they were normal: Where are you from? Why are you in Europe? etc. But then thing started to get uncomfortable. She asked me what I was going to do after I finished my undergraduate studies. I told her of my intentions to go to law school. Well this set her off. She began ranting about how I do not have the personality to be a lawyer and I really need to consider an alternative plan. Fortunately Stephanie saw what was happening and made up some excuse about why we suddenly needed to leave. I was so thankful, I did not know how to handle this woman who was telling me my entire life plan was a horrible decision. Needless to say, my first introduction to Germans was not the best, but it got much better after that.
We ate lunch at the famous Hofbrauhaus. The atmosphere was incredible in this place. There is a polka band who plays continuously and there are thousands of people eating, drinking, and having a good time. It was like a mini-Oktoberfest! The food was delicious!
After lunch we headed out of Munich to Stephanie's house in Petting. It is about an hour outside the city so we got to see a lot of the German country-side on our drive. We showered, changed, and had a delicious dinner of swinebrotten made by Lindsay's aunt. Even though we were exhausted, we wanted to see Salzburg, Austria which is 10 minutes from Petting. We spent the evening walking around Salzburg. We saw the house where Mozart was born, many little shops, and other historical sites. Everything was closed while we were there so we didn't really know exactly what we were looking at, but it was still beautiful and nice to see.
Saturday- We began the day by traveling to the Herren-Chemsee. This is one of the three castles built by crazy King Ludwig II. This particular castle was built as a monument to King Louis XIV so it looks very similar to Versailles. We had to take a ferry across the Chemsee lake to reach the castle. It was a very pretty ride. Our view of the Alps was spectacular. The castle itself was amazing too. Right as we walked up to the castle all of the fountains turned on. Each fountain is a massive work of art within itself, but to see in with the water flowing out of it was amazing. My pictures will do a better job demonstrating what I mean than I can describe. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take any pictures in the castle (and it was strictly enforced, believe me we tried). But the castle was completely covered in gold leafing. It was one of the most ornate interiors I have ever seen. It was absolutely beautiful, but I was angered to learn that King Ludwig only spent 10 days of his whole life in the place.
After we finished our tour of the castle we headed to Oktoberfest. This festival was nothing like I expected it to be. Not only were there more people than I ever imagined possible, but it was also a lot more like a state fair than I expected. In addition to the massive beer tents, there were game booths, food stands, and rides. There were also people of all ages at the event and everyone was wearing their leiderhosen or durdels. It was truly an experience I will never forget. Some of the highlights of our day: there is a ride that requires one to jump onto a moving conveyor belt in order to be transported to the slide. Well Lindsay and I were sure that all of the people who kept falling down on the conveyor belt were just too drunk to do it correctly, so we wanted to try and demonstrate how its done. Boy were we wrong. When we finally saw the conveyor belt we realized that it actually moves at about 15 mph and you have to go from standing still to balancing on this speeding contraption. We no longer thought it would be a piece of cake, and sure enough, we both added to the long list of people who were laughed at as they rode up on their backs. (there are pictures in my album of us). Another highlight was having dinner in one of the beer gardens. We got there too late in the day to get into one of the tents, but we were lucky enough to get a table outside of the tent in the beer garden. We each had a stein of beer (which we later snuck out of place and still have)which was a massive amount of beer. The rest of the night was a lot warmer and a lot more fun after we had our drinks. The brezens (pretzels) that they served in the beer garden were also delicious, not to mention huge! Finally, while we were there we apparently met a famous german soap star. We clearly had no idea who he was, but the germans sharing our table told us all about who he was. We tried to get a picture with him but he was too busy for us Americans.
Finally, on Sunday we got up bright and early so that we could try and get into a tent at Oktoberfest and really experience the atmosphere. We were lucky and we did get into a tent. Wow, that experience was so amazing. Picture a giant tent with a capacity to hold 10,000 people already filled at noon. Beer had been flowing for 2 hours already and the band was just getting started. Every time a popular song came on, everyone jumped up on their seats and began singing as loud as they could. It was so much fun! I also had some of the best chicken I have ever had in the tent as my lunch. We had to catch our bus by 3:30 to head back to Florence so we didn't get to stay at Oktoberfest as long as I would have liked.
Overall, it was a great experience. I think that it was an experience that everyone should have at some point in his/her life!
pictures
Monday, September 13, 2010
My Trip to the Amalfi Coast
This past weekend we took our first mini-vacation within my semester long adventure. We hopped on a bus for a 6 hour ride down the coast of Italy. The worst part of the entire trip was our hotel. It was a room designed for 2 people that they crammed for of us (with a ton of stuff) into. Fortunately we had so many activities planned for the weekend that we barely spent anytime in the room.
On Friday we spent the day in Capri. It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. We took a 2 hour boat tour around the entire island. The weather was not great but the views were still spectacular. Unfortunately, the sea was too rough for us to see the Blue Grotto. This is the most famous and beautiful site in Capri. I guess this just gives me another reason to come back to Capri. After the tour the weather began to clear up and we made an extremely long trek to the beach. We got lost for about an hour and a half, but we eventually found the beach. We had to trek down about 300 steps in order to reach the beach, but the energy and effort was worth it. We also stopped for some great lunch and wine while at the beach.
On Saturday we traveled to Posatano. I did not think I could see a city more beautiful than Capri, but I found it in Posatano. I cannot describe how beautiful this city is, you will just have to look at my pictures. All of the girls bought hand-crafted sandals on the island. Mine are so beautiful, I cannot wait to wear them. We spent a lot of the day paddle boating around the Mediterranean Sea and relaxing on the beach.
Finally, on Sunday we went to Pompeii and Mt. Vesuvius. Given my love of history, this was definitely a highlight of my life. Seeing the Roman structures exactly how they were in 79 A.D. was so thrilling. I was amazed at the technology and infrastructure that they were able to develop so many centuries ago. We also climbed all the way to the top of still active volcano Mt. Vesuvius. It was amazing to see not only the view from the top, but also down into the volcano. There were places where it was still smoking! We sure were sore after that hike, but it was so worth the pain.
Today was my first Monday back in the swing of school. In appropriate fashion it poured all day to suit my mood. I was exhausted from the trip and the school day sure was long. I did not really want to be there, but Global Justice was interesting as usual. My Italian class is still very difficult, but it is getting a bit easier.
Here is a link to all of my pictures from this weekend: pictures
My computer placed them completely out of order, but I hope you can still enjoy them.
Also, Flickr is only allowing me to put the Capri pictures up, I apparently went over my monthly upload allowance already. All of my pictures are on my facebook, hopefully you can see them there.
On Friday we spent the day in Capri. It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. We took a 2 hour boat tour around the entire island. The weather was not great but the views were still spectacular. Unfortunately, the sea was too rough for us to see the Blue Grotto. This is the most famous and beautiful site in Capri. I guess this just gives me another reason to come back to Capri. After the tour the weather began to clear up and we made an extremely long trek to the beach. We got lost for about an hour and a half, but we eventually found the beach. We had to trek down about 300 steps in order to reach the beach, but the energy and effort was worth it. We also stopped for some great lunch and wine while at the beach.
On Saturday we traveled to Posatano. I did not think I could see a city more beautiful than Capri, but I found it in Posatano. I cannot describe how beautiful this city is, you will just have to look at my pictures. All of the girls bought hand-crafted sandals on the island. Mine are so beautiful, I cannot wait to wear them. We spent a lot of the day paddle boating around the Mediterranean Sea and relaxing on the beach.
Finally, on Sunday we went to Pompeii and Mt. Vesuvius. Given my love of history, this was definitely a highlight of my life. Seeing the Roman structures exactly how they were in 79 A.D. was so thrilling. I was amazed at the technology and infrastructure that they were able to develop so many centuries ago. We also climbed all the way to the top of still active volcano Mt. Vesuvius. It was amazing to see not only the view from the top, but also down into the volcano. There were places where it was still smoking! We sure were sore after that hike, but it was so worth the pain.
Today was my first Monday back in the swing of school. In appropriate fashion it poured all day to suit my mood. I was exhausted from the trip and the school day sure was long. I did not really want to be there, but Global Justice was interesting as usual. My Italian class is still very difficult, but it is getting a bit easier.
Here is a link to all of my pictures from this weekend: pictures
My computer placed them completely out of order, but I hope you can still enjoy them.
Also, Flickr is only allowing me to put the Capri pictures up, I apparently went over my monthly upload allowance already. All of my pictures are on my facebook, hopefully you can see them there.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Day 5
Today I had my first day of Art History. My professor took us to see the Basilica di Santa Croce. It is the principle Franciscan Church in Florence. It was built in the 1200s and it full of amazing art and history. Michelangelo, Machiavelli, and Galileo's tombs are all found within the main area of worship of the church. There is also a tribute to Dante, as well as a massive statue of Dante outside the church in the piazza. The pictures will be able to do a much better job explaining this beautiful place than I can.
Last night CAPA (the program I am studying with) took the entire school out to dinner. We had a full course Italian meal at an amazing Italian restaurant complete with 6 antipasto dishes, 3 pasta dishes, amazing chocolate cake, and delicious red and white wines. Needless to say, we could barely move after we finished the meal. The most surprising, but delicious, dish I had was prosciutto and cantelope. It was so sweet and salty and melted in your mouth in an interestingly delicious way. I highly recommend this unique combination. We spent almost 5 hours at the dinner, drinking, eating, and ejoying each other's company. It was a great night.
Tomorrow night we leave for the Amalfi Coast for a long 3.5 day weekend. I will be sure to post pictures of this amazing place.
Rather than continue to put just a few pictures up here, I have created a Flickr website where all of my pictures can be viewed. You can view all of my Florence pictures here: pictures
Last night CAPA (the program I am studying with) took the entire school out to dinner. We had a full course Italian meal at an amazing Italian restaurant complete with 6 antipasto dishes, 3 pasta dishes, amazing chocolate cake, and delicious red and white wines. Needless to say, we could barely move after we finished the meal. The most surprising, but delicious, dish I had was prosciutto and cantelope. It was so sweet and salty and melted in your mouth in an interestingly delicious way. I highly recommend this unique combination. We spent almost 5 hours at the dinner, drinking, eating, and ejoying each other's company. It was a great night.
Tomorrow night we leave for the Amalfi Coast for a long 3.5 day weekend. I will be sure to post pictures of this amazing place.
Rather than continue to put just a few pictures up here, I have created a Flickr website where all of my pictures can be viewed. You can view all of my Florence pictures here: pictures
Monday, September 6, 2010
Day 2-4
Well I lost the internet connection in my house for a while so I haven't been able to write for a few days. Since last writing my life has been such a blur. We have barely had time to stop and process everything before we are swept off to the next event. Saturday we had orientation for our classes and the program we are attending. They introduced us to our teachers and the administrators of the program, gave us a meal stipend, and then took us on a walking tour of Florence. Through the tour we were able to see some of the amazing site Florence has to offer, including: the Duomo, the Ponte Vecchio, the Uffizi art museum, the piazza Republica (the largest open air market in Florence), and the Piazza Il Porcellino (if you rub the boars nose and then let a coin drop from his mouth into the fountain it brings you good luck). I have pictures of most of these places on this post.
Saturday night we decided to go out and explore the Firenze night life. We began at an American pub. It was nice here but everything was so expensive. We only stayed for a little while. We walked around for a while and eventually found an outdoor bar packed with locals. It was much more fun here. But I must say, what everyone says about the Italian men seems to be quite true. You can't walk down the street or enter a bar without hearing a chorus of "ciao bella." They are also quite persistent. They will continue to pursue you until you have made yourself extremely clear that you are not interested. One Italian man continues to ask me to sit with him and his friends until I pulled out my phone to show him I had a boyfriend. But their spirit is not broken, once you turn them down they simply move on to the next.
On Sunday Linsday, Bryn, and I decided to walk around Florence again to better learn our way around. We spent most of our time in the area we walked around the previous day. We went to the Uffizi because we thought the David was located within. We walked all around the huge museum looking at the art hastily because we wanted to get to the David. Finally, we made it around the whole museum and failed to find him anywhere. So I asked in my very limited Italian where the David was located. The museum worker looked at me, rolled her eyes, and said "David e a la Academia". Which means the David is in the Academia, not the Uffizi. So we blew through the whole museum and didn't even get to see what we wanted. Good thing we have free museum passes so we can go back eventually and see all the artwork we didn't take the time to appreciate.
We also tried our first Italian pizza and gelato. Both were delicioso! Our waiter was so funny. He knew we were American so he made us try to order in Italian. Eventually we were able to do it, but it sure took us a long time to order such simple dishes.
Today we started classes. My philosophy class through Ursinus will be business as usual, but the Italian class sure will be a challenge. We already had to speak an entire paragraph about ourselves on the fly the very first day of class. At the beginning of the class period I was panicking. I did not think I had learned enough back home to be in this level of Italian. By the end of the class period, however, things were starting to come back to me. I'm sure things will be fine, especially since I really try to speak Italian at home with my homestay family.
So far this has been one of the best experiences of my life. In a matter of four days I went from being absolutely petrified to never wanting to leave. I never imagined it would take such a little amount of time for me to adjust. My host family sure does make it easy to enjoy being here. Each day they cook me amazing meals and we sit around the table, drink wine, and talk for hours. Guido, my host father, just finished showing me his family's photo album of Prague. I told them I was hoping to visit the city and they got so excited. They raved and raved about the city, sharing all of their experiences and pictures with me. Such a warm and friendly environment has really made my transition here so much easier.
Saturday night we decided to go out and explore the Firenze night life. We began at an American pub. It was nice here but everything was so expensive. We only stayed for a little while. We walked around for a while and eventually found an outdoor bar packed with locals. It was much more fun here. But I must say, what everyone says about the Italian men seems to be quite true. You can't walk down the street or enter a bar without hearing a chorus of "ciao bella." They are also quite persistent. They will continue to pursue you until you have made yourself extremely clear that you are not interested. One Italian man continues to ask me to sit with him and his friends until I pulled out my phone to show him I had a boyfriend. But their spirit is not broken, once you turn them down they simply move on to the next.
On Sunday Linsday, Bryn, and I decided to walk around Florence again to better learn our way around. We spent most of our time in the area we walked around the previous day. We went to the Uffizi because we thought the David was located within. We walked all around the huge museum looking at the art hastily because we wanted to get to the David. Finally, we made it around the whole museum and failed to find him anywhere. So I asked in my very limited Italian where the David was located. The museum worker looked at me, rolled her eyes, and said "David e a la Academia". Which means the David is in the Academia, not the Uffizi. So we blew through the whole museum and didn't even get to see what we wanted. Good thing we have free museum passes so we can go back eventually and see all the artwork we didn't take the time to appreciate.
We also tried our first Italian pizza and gelato. Both were delicioso! Our waiter was so funny. He knew we were American so he made us try to order in Italian. Eventually we were able to do it, but it sure took us a long time to order such simple dishes.
Today we started classes. My philosophy class through Ursinus will be business as usual, but the Italian class sure will be a challenge. We already had to speak an entire paragraph about ourselves on the fly the very first day of class. At the beginning of the class period I was panicking. I did not think I had learned enough back home to be in this level of Italian. By the end of the class period, however, things were starting to come back to me. I'm sure things will be fine, especially since I really try to speak Italian at home with my homestay family.
So far this has been one of the best experiences of my life. In a matter of four days I went from being absolutely petrified to never wanting to leave. I never imagined it would take such a little amount of time for me to adjust. My host family sure does make it easy to enjoy being here. Each day they cook me amazing meals and we sit around the table, drink wine, and talk for hours. Guido, my host father, just finished showing me his family's photo album of Prague. I told them I was hoping to visit the city and they got so excited. They raved and raved about the city, sharing all of their experiences and pictures with me. Such a warm and friendly environment has really made my transition here so much easier.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Day One
Well after a marathon day of traveling, I am finally settled into my new home for the semester. I have a wonderful host family, each member is extremely kind and generous. I will be well taken care of (Mom you can breathe a sigh of relief). Since today did not consist of much besides travel I wanted to post some pictures of my new living space. (Hopefully tomorrow I will get some of the beautiful view I have outside my room, but its too dark now). My absolute favorite part about this house is the open courtyard behind it. My room opens up to a porch which over looks the lovely space. I am currently sitting with my porch door open listening to an Italian family's music. It is very peaceful and relaxing, not to mention beautiful.
Here are two pictures of my room.
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