When In Rome...

After a five-hour bus ride, we finally got to our four-star hotel, Massimo D’Azzaria. Once we were all checked in, Martin took us on a walking tour around the area around our hotel. We walked to the Roman Forum and the Colosseum. Martin was taking us into each of them another day, so we just walked around the outside of them. After the tour, we headed to dinner and then called it a night.

            Tuesday was our tour to the Vatican. We headed there around 9 AM, stopping at the church Santa Maria Maggiore on the way and then heading to St. Peter’s Square. First, we toured the Vatican Museum. There were so many famous statues, paintings, and frescoes, including the Belvedere Torso and Raphael’s “School of Athens”. However, the piece de resistance was, of course, the Michelangelo’s ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. I definitely had a crick in my neck after staring straight up for 10 minutes straight. It was so beautiful and surreal that I was actually seeing it in person that I could not take my eyes off of it! After admire the ceiling and the “Last Judgment” on the front wall, we left the chapel and headed to St. Peter’s Basilica. We waited in line to climb to the top of the dome of St. Peter’s, thinking that after the 363 steps to the top of the dome in Florence, that these 260 of so steps would be a breeze. Wrong. Not only were most of the steps in a spiral staircase, making you extremely dizzy by the time you reached the top, but the walls were slanted, forcing you to tilt your body in order to make it to the top. But once we finally made it, the view was definitely worth it. It was so beautiful to see St. Peter’s Square from above! After making our way down those treacherous steps with no falls, we toured St. Peter’s basilica. Inside the basilica was breathtaking! The ceilings were extremely high, filled with beautiful stained-glass windows. At the end of the nave was the baldacchino (altar) and at the other end was Michelangelo’s famous Pieta. We toured the Pope’s Tombs underneath the basilica. As we were down there, mass had begun and the hymns filled the underground chambers. There were many tombs from the 1500s and it was crazy to think that these tombs had been here for 500 years. Also, St. Peter’s tomb was there, decorated with mosaics and made gold-leafed decorations. Pope John Paul’s tomb was covered in flowers with many people stopping in front of it to kneel of just sit in silence with the muffled hymns from mass above adding to the somber mood. After touring the tombs, we headed outside into the rain and left St. Peter’s Square. It was about time for dinner so we went back to the area around our hotel for so pasta and gelato. Once it was dark, a group of us walked around Rome to admire the night lights.

Wednesday, Martin took us on a tour of many of the famous sights in Rome. First, we went to the Spanish steps. It was filled with locals eating and hanging out, with street painters at the top of the steps in front of the Trinity Church. Next, we went to the Trevi Fountain. The fountain was packed with people throwing coins over their shoulder, wishing for love. Once we were done throwing coins of our own and taking pictures, Martin took us to the Pantheon. We have learned about the importance and significance of the Pantheon in our history classes throughout middle and high school, so it was awesome to actually get to see it in person. The Pantheon is relatively small, so it did not take us too long to tour it. Once we were done, we walked through many side streets to reach St. Peter’s in time for the Pope’s Blessing around noon. Everything you have with you gets blessed. Alyssa wore here new red dress, so we told her she had to wear her blessed dress to every single game-day, hopefully giving us an advantage?? Wishful thinking. After the blessing, Helen, Alyssa, Banks, Caitlin, and I went to Piazza Navona for lunch. It is a typical Italian piazza with a fountain in the middle, shops and cafes lining the sides, and street painters in the middle. After eating a delicious lunch, we headed to a pub near the Pantheon to meet all of our friends to watch the USA vs. Algeria soccer game. There was about 30 of us UGA students there and we took over the pub. When the US scored in stoppage time, we all went crazy and I am pretty sure everyone on the street heard us screaming! Once we had calmed down from the exciting game, Alyssa, Helen, Charmaine, and I went to the Tomb of the Unknown solider. Their tomb is completely different from the Tomb of the Unknown Solider in Washington DC. While ours is somber and humble, the Italian tomb is massive and over the top. While it was beautiful, it think I prefer our respectful tomb over their showy one. We also went to the Capitoline Museum. Inside the museum was the bronze statue of the She-Wolf with Romulus and Remus. After the museum, we went to dinner at a cafe near the Colosseum. Once we were done with dinner, it was dark outside, so we decided to go see the Spanish steps, Trevi Fountain, and the Colosseum at night. They were each so beautiful with the night lights. 

Thursday morning, Martin first took us to St. Peter in Chains Cathedral so see Michelangelo’s Moses. Each time I see one of Michelangelo’s statues or paintings, I am amazed. Moses looked as though he was going to get up any second and walk towards us. After touring the cathedral, we headed to the Roman Colosseum. The place was HUGE! It was so cool to think that this is where thousands of Romans used to sit to watch the gladiator fights. Next, we went to tour the grounds of the Roman Forum. It was crazy to think that I was walking along the same roads that the Roman Emperors had walked hundreds of years ago. After walking the Palatine hill, the grounds of Circus Maximus, and the Roman Forum, we headed to the Borghese Museum. The museum housed so many beautiful statues and paintings, including “Apollo and Daphne” by Bernini. Once we were done touring the Borghese, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for our farewell dinner. Our dinner was at the restaurant of our four-star hotel, which included four courses. It was so sad, knowing that it was our last meal all together in Italy. 

Recap of the last 6 weeks:

Went to Istanbul, Cinque Terre, Barcelona, Milan, Bolzano, Torino, Florence, and Rome. Saw the Mediterranean Sea, Da Vinci’s “Last Supper”, Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel and David, went to the Colosseum, was blessed by the Pope, and did and saw so many more amazing things. I have no regrets from the past six weeks. I only wish that I could have stayed longer!!

I can’t believe that the six weeks are over. The time flew by! It was definitely one of the best experiences of my life and it is sad knowing that it is over and that I will never be able to get to experience something like this again. I met so many great people and got to experience so many amazing things and I am so thankful for this amazing opportunity. 

So… our hotel in Florence did not have internet and you had to pay 10 euro for internet in our four-star hotel in Italy. So basically, I have not had internet for about a week, which is why my updates are late. But I will start with Florence:

            We got to Florence on Friday around one and went on a walking tour with Martin. There were random rain showers throughout the day, which kept it relatively cool so the weather was perfect! Our hotel was about one street down from the center of town so it was a great location. Martin took around to get a view of the Duomo and Giotto’s Bronze Doors. We had been learning about the Duomo and the Bronze Doors for the past two weeks and it was so cool to finally get to see it in person! I loved getting to see all of the different scenes from the Bible depicted on the doors! Next, Martin showed us where the leather market was, knowing that we would all want to do some shopping. After walking around for a while, it was time for the US soccer game. We found this pub called “The Old Stove” and about 20 of us piled in there to watch the game. The rest of the night was pretty low-key with everyone just trying to get adjusted.

            Saturday, the 60 of us went on a tour of the Uffizi Museum in Palazzo Vecchio. There were so many beautiful paintings in there! My favorite of the paintings were the “Birth of Venus” and “Springtime” by Botticelli. The Gallery was huge and had so many famous paintings! After the museum, Alyssa, Helen, Carmen, and I went to the Duomo. The outside of the Duomo is decorated with many different colored marble and is beautiful!! We climbed to the top of Brunelleschi’s dome. The view was gorgeous and all of the buildings are so pretty with all of the brown roof tiles! The climb to the top was 363 stairs, so we definitely got our workout! It is probably a good thing since I eat all pasta and pizza and usually have gelato ATLEAST once a day, if not more. But the view definitely made the hike worth it! After taking the 363 stairs back down, we went to Ponte Vecchio Bridge. The bridge is known for all of its gold shops, meaning, I window-shopped and looked at all of the beautiful jewelry, knowing I could never afford any of it. Once we were done with the bridge, we had dinner and then headed back to the hotel for the night.

            Sunday, we all went for a walking tour. Our tour guide took us to many different medieval houses around Florence. The tour ended at the Academia, where many of Michelangelo’s most famous statues are, including “David”. Because I had been taking the Italian Renaissance class for the past four weeks, we had learned all about Michelangelo and his works, so it was cool to get to see all of the artwork that we had been learning about, including the “Pieta”. But “David” definitely outshined all of the other statues in the room! He was in the middle of the room and was huge! How Michelangelo created something so beautiful, I will never understand! “David” was beautiful and it was so incredible to get to see! After getting to see Da Vinci’s “Last Supper” and Michelangelo’s “David”, I think I have seen the two most famous artworks in the world! After the Academia, Helen, Alyssa, and I went to Piazza Signoria and ate lunch. Picture an Italian square and that is exactly what this piazza looked like. It had a fountain in the middle with statues surrounding it and restaurants, bakeries, and pastry shops along the streets. So cute! After lunch, we headed to the leather market. It was full of leather shops that make there own purses, belts, shoes, and other leather things. It also had smaller stands that sold other small things. Once we were done with the leather market we headed to dinner. About twelve of us went to this restaurant a couple of streets away from our restaurant. It was incredible!! I got the best lasagna EVER!! And then I ordered, brace yourself, CHEESECAKE WITH NUTELLA ON IT!!!! It was the most delicious thing EVER!!! After our amazing dinner, we went back to the hotel and called it a night.

Today was our last day in Verona. For the last four weeks, this place has been my home away from home. I learned so much here, such as how to cook, clean an entire apartment, and wash dishes (My dad is going to be so proud of me!). At our residence, we had a little grocery store one block away, the river and alps in our back yard, and a church just far close enough so that we could hear the bells ring each hour. The center of the city was just a few minutes away, in walking distance if you were feeling active. Also, it was just like living in the dorms again (except that we had a kitchen, normal sized bedroom, living room, and a terrace). All of your friends were just an elevator ride away and there was always someone to do something with. After spending four weeks here, I feel like a local and know my way around the entire city. I LOVE this city and am so sad to leave it!

Today, Alyssa, Carmen, Helen, and I decided to explore Verona for the last time. We stopped by to say farewell to Juliet and did some last minute shopping. I took a couple of pictures of my favorite places in Verona, adding to the 1,535 pictures I have already taken on this trip. Tonight we had our farewell dinner. All sixty of us took chartered buses to a restaurant in the mountains, overlooking the entire city. The view was beautiful! We had a six course meal and I ate everything from each course. It was sooo good! At the end of the meal, naturally, we Called the Dawgs. We had to leave Verona with a great lasting impression of the obnoxious Georgia fans. After dinner, all sixty of us headed to the middle of town one last time. 

Tomorrow, we leave around 1000 hours for Florence. Martin has some great things planned for us in Florence over the next couple of days so I am very excited! We leave for Rome next Tuesday and I can’t wait! 

It is currently 2:30 AM and we are all staying up to meet in the computer lab at 3:00 AM to watch the seventh game of the NBA finals, Celtics vs. Lakers. We are such good Americans.

So this weekend was so much fun!! Friday we spent the day in Bolzano. It is little town, right at the foot of the Alps. Germans founded the town, so it is a little version of a German town. We went to the Otzi Museum, which showed the 5,000-year-old iceman that was recently found in the Alps. We ate lunch at this German-like pub and at sausage and potatoes. SOO good! Then we walked around and saw a little castle and did some shopping. Next, we took a cable car to the top of the mountain and it was gorgeous! We really enjoyed Bolzano because it was completely different from any other town we had been to in Italy. It felt as though we had left Italy and had landed in Germany.

            Saturday, we went to Milan. We got there around 9:30 to make it in time for our tour. We started the tour at the Duomo in Milan, which is the fourth largest church in the world! It was beautiful!! It was full of stained-glass windows and beautiful paintings. The church houses what they claim to be the nail that was used to nail Jesus to the cross. That was really neat to see! We climbed to the roof of the church and the view was gorgeous! We had to hike up this skinny little staircase, up like 500 steps in the blazing heat, but the view made the trek worth it!! After the church, we toured the Opera House. Picture the Phantom of the Opera and that is exactly what it looked like. Next, we went to the second largest castle in Italy, the Sforza Castle. Then we went to see the “Last Supper” by Leonardo Da Vinci. Usually, you have to make reservations several months in advance, but because we had booked this tour a couple of days earlier, we were able to get tickets with them. The church that the “Last Supper” is in is a small, ordinary little church. From the outside, you would never know that something so beautiful and special was inside. The painting was amazing. I never thought I would ever get to see it in real life and I was blown away! The fresco was huge, taking up the entire wall. It was so incredible to get to be just a few feet away from it! After that, the tour was over and we headed back to the middle of town to do some shopping. Around 7pm, we headed back to Verona to make it in time for the US vs. England soccer game. We ate dinner at a café in the middle of town at watched the game there with all of the locals. So much fun!

            Sunday, we headed to Torino, host of the 2006 Olympic games. Our train was delayed about an hour, getting us to Torino later than we were planning. Once we finally got there, we headed down the main street. We passed to of the main churches and went to the palaces at the end of the street. We got in for free because we are history students. First time school has actually paid off!! To tour the second floor, which were the Prince’s Quarters, you had to go on the group tour. So we were like “That’s great! We will learn all of the cool history!!” Wrong. The entire tour was in Italian. And it was an hour long. So we looked at all of the pretty rooms and paintings, but have no idea what any of it was because nothing was in English. But it was still beautiful! I have decided that I definitely need to marry a prince so that I can have a house like that! After the tour, we headed down another one of the main streets towards the castle at the foot of the mountain. That is when the heavens opened up. It started POURING, so we had to rush inside to a café to escape the rain. Once we realized it wasn’t going to stop, it was 6:30, so we decided to head back to the train station. We were a little upset that we weren’t able to see the Olympic torch or the castle, but we still enjoyed Torino!

            Last night (Monday night) was the Italy vs. Paraguay soccer game. We rented out the entire upstairs of Campus Bar and went there to watch it with the locals. When Italy scored, the entire place erupted and people went crazy! Picture all 92,746 fans at a UGA football game and put them all in one bar. That is what last night was like. Maybe I am exaggerating a little, but it was definitely crazy! But we had a lot of fun!!

            This is our last week in Florence. We have finals tomorrow and Thursday, which cuts into our time to explore Verona one last time! Friday, we leave for Florence and next Tuesday we leave for Rome. There are so many awesome things to do in Florence and Rome, such as see Michelangelo’s David and the Vatican! We found out today that we are staying in a four star hotel in Rome! Can’t wait for that!! We also found out today that the airlines in Italy are going on strike June 25^th, the day we leave. How convenient. One week and a half left in Italy!

I am trying so many new things here in Italy! Not only am I learning how to speak Italian (I know how to say “hello” and “thank you”), but I ate a cherry and a flower for the first time today! Today (Thursday), five of us girls took a cooking lesson from a lady right outside of Verona. It was the most amazing meal I have ever had! And I cooked it! We made stuffed zucchini flowers for an appetizer, had ravioli with pumpkin in sage and butter sauce, and had corn and almond crumble with grappa. INCREDIBLE! The lady was so nice and sweet and made me feel like I was actually a good cook! She had cherry, hazelnut, and plum trees in her front yard. Also, she grew all of her own herbs. Her house was so cute, the typical Italian home. We had such a great time and I am sooo excited to be able to cook a fancy meal for the fam or the roomies!

Tomorrow, the five of us are traveling to Bolzano. It is like a miniature German town. It has the Ice Man, who is apparently the oldest known preserved human being…. or something cool like that?? But should be really fun to visit because it is completely different from Verona and all of the other cities that we have visited! And the high tomorrow is 92 degrees. Oh yay. 

Sooo… I am a little behind on my blogging, so here is my update for the past couple of days!
Tuesday, our program coordinator, Martin, planned a wine-tasting and winery tour for the whole group. On our way to the winery, the bus took us to the top of the hill in Verona. From the top, we could see the center of town, the river, and the Alps. It was beautiful!! It made me realize how much I love this city and how sad I will be to leave next week! But then we headed to the winery. We were given a short tour and then had a group dinner in the basement. With our pasta, we were given a white wine, we had red wine with our meat and vegetables, and had a dessert wine with our dessert. It was soooo good! Easily the best meal we had had yet! 
Wednesday, several of us went into the middle of Verona and went shopping. Yes: I went shopping without being forced to. Everyone mark it on your calender because that probably will never happen again. Anyways, after shopping, we had dinner at Pizza Church. It’s name isn’t really Pizza Church, that’s just what us UGA kids call it because it used to be a church and now it serves pizza. We are soooo clever. But the pizza was delicious!! I got an entire proscuitto pizza and ate the entire thing. YUM! 

This weekend, five of us are backpacking to different cities. Thursday, we are traveling to Lake Garda after class so see the beautiful lake and to take a cooking class. My roommates are going to LOVE me next year! Apparently, we are making stuffed flowers for an appetizer and making our own tortellini?? Sounds amazing right?? On Friday, we are traveling to Bolzano, which is kind of a miniature German town. Saturday, we are going to Milan. We have tickets to see Da Vinci’s Last Supper, which should be INCREDIBLE! I am soooo pumped for that!! Also, we are going to the Duomo, museums, churches, and, of course, shopping! On Sunday, we are going to Torino, where they held the 2006 Winter Olympics. So this weekend should be so much fun!! 

 
We only have about one week left in Verona and then we head to Florence and Rome for the last week. I have LOVED living here in Verona. It is such a beautiful city! Our Residence is right on the river and the Alps are in the background. I love just sitting out on our terrace, eating pasta, and reading. The Arena is in the city center along with great restaurants and shops, so it is so much fun to be able to go into the middle of town. I can’t believe that our time here is almost over! I will be really sad to leave, but I am so excited for Florence and Rome!! 

Barcelona was AMAZING!! I had no idea that Barcelona had so many awesome things to do!! A group of 11 of us all went together. After taking a bus to the train station, a train to Venice, a taxi to the airport, a plane to Spain, a bus to Barcelona, and a cab to our hostel, we FINALLY got there around 1:30 in the morning. Friday morning, Amanda, Kaeley, Kristen, and I went exploring around Barcelona. We had our first Spanish meal and it was soooo good. I am not exactly sure what it was, but I really liked it! Next, we went to the Picasso museum. It was really interesting to see all of the different works that Picasso had created. Next, we went to La Segrada Familia, a cathedral designed by Gaudi. It looks like dripped candle wax and was so interesting! He died in the early 1900s before it’s construction was complete and they have just recently decided to finish it. But even with all of the construction going on, it was beautiful! Next, we went to Parc Guell, which was also designed by Gaudi. If you have ever seen the picture of the long, winding bench of mosaics in Barcelona, that is Parc Guell. Parc Guell is on the top of a hill in the middle of Barcelona so it gave us a great view of the city. The city looked gorgeous from up there! Once we were done exploring for the day, we went back to the hostel to ready ready for our first experience of the Barcelona night life!!

On Saturday, Amanda and I went off on our own, while the rest of the group went to the beach. Amanda and I went shopping on Las Ramblas, one of the main streets in Verona. Then we joined everyone else on the beach. The beach was PACKED and… let’s just say the the people of Barcelona are not very shy or modest when it comes to bathing-suits (or lack of one). So that was definitely an interesting experience! But after a couple of hours, we went to a local pub and watched the soccer game between the US and England. Then we went back to the hostel to get ready for dinner. We went to a tapas restaurant and it was one of the best meals EVER!! Not even exaggerating. It was amazing!! 

Sunday, Amanda and I did some more touring. We went to La Pedrera, more of Gaudi’s houses. We also went to a mass and got to see children taking their first communion! It was so cute! After that, we took the metro to the bus station, took the bus to the airport, the plane to Venice, train from Venice to Verona, and a bus back to the Residence. It was a really exhausting weekend, but so worth it! I loved every minute of Barcelona! It was great to get to spend a weekend in such a huge city since we have been living in Verona, which is pretty small. So if you are ever thinking about going to Barcelona, DO IT!!!

Sooo… this weekend was easily one of the best ones ever! Twenty-two of us went together to Cinque Terre this weekend and had a great time! We caught a train right after class and arrived to Cinque Terre about six hours later. Cinque Terre is made up of five fishing villages and we stayed in the fifth town, Riomaggiore. For our hostel, we were divided up into 3 different groups of 11, 9, and 3, and I was in the group of 9. As we followed the guy to our our room for 9, we hiked up hill after hill, until we reached the very top of the mountain. Our hostel was a small white house with green shutters that overlooked the entire city of Riomaggiore and the Mediterranean Sea. As we walked up to our hilltop villa, we passed a beautiful church, a clock tower, and got a gorgeous view the entire hike. The killer hike was so worth it.

On Friday, we took the hike from Monterosso to Riomaggiore. The hike was in the mountains along the beach, traveling between all five cities. And holy cow… the hike between the first and second cities was INTENSE! But once we got to the second city and saw the beach, it was so worth it! The city was beautiful and the water was so blue! We swam a little in the water to cool off, then ate lunch, and began to hike to the next city. The rest of the towns were also gorgeous! Each of the five towns are fishing villages so they are so quaint and cute. At the fourth town, we ordered some gelato and then found some rocks to jump off of, providing great entertainment for the rest of the town that were around the beach. After about five and a half hours of hiking, we finally made it back to Riomaggiore and our hostel. That night after dinner, we went to what we thought was an open-air concert. We thought it was strange that the Italians were all sitting down and not dancing, so we decided to get the party started with a little swing dancing. Come to find out, it was not a concert, but a political rally, with the candidate as the lead singer. Oh well!!! 

Saturday, all 22 of us spent the day at the beach in Monterosso (the first city). Instead of sand, the beach was all pebbles. Although it really hurt to walk and lay out on, it was beautiful! The water was so blue and half of us spent most of the day in it. It was such a relaxing day after a day full of hiking!

Sunday, we woke up really early and got to the train station around 8 am to catch out train back to Verona. After six hours we finally made it back to the Residence. It was such a great weekend but it is nice to be back at a place with a shower that has warm water and can fit more than my big toe (the shower at the hostel was about a foot wide and had no warm water). This week, we have midterms so my week will consist mainly of studying and getting ready for Barcelona this weekend! Can’t wait!!

So the first week of classes is finally over. Thank goodness. Not that they are terrible, it’s just that I would like to sit on the terrace facing the river, eat pasta, and look at Italian boys walking along the street. Is that too much to ask? But that isn’t way it is going. I already have a quiz and a paper due tomorrow and my midterms are next week. Can’t wait (you can’t hear the sarcasm in my voice, but it is there). But this weekend I am going to Cinque Terre and I am sooo excited!! Cinque Terre is a group of five cities right on the beach and they are so beautiful! SO I will be back Monday with lots of pictures! All of you faithful followers out there: I won’t be updating till Monday, but trust me… it will be worth the wait :)