The Final Week, More or Less

The semester finally ended and boy was it a long, drawn out, exhausting end.  Just these past few weeks, we’ve had assignment after assignment due, on top of a trip to Barcelona that we planned before spring break. We had a ten page Italian film paper, an 8-10 page Renaissance art paper and a 10 minute presentation, a five page evolution paper and a 15-20 minute presentation, and three finals.  I really wish this stuff had been spaced out a little more or that they had warned us that we would have this much due alongside a free weekend, but whatever. 

I managed to get through all of this to be able to meet mom and dad in La Spezia this past Wednesday, which was really nice.  They had an amazing B&B in La Spezia with absolutely fantastic hosts.  Once I got there, we pretty much just had dinner and relaxed in the apartment.  The next day, we hopped the train down to Montarosso al Mare, the last town of Cinque Terre.  It was a very beautiful city, although at this point all of the Italian cities start to look the same.  Apparently the only way to truly see the beauty of the Cinque Terre is by ferry, but the waters were too rough for the ferries to be running. 

We walked around the city, stopping in the souvenir shops to look at the shirts and whatnot along the way.  We eventually wandered back down to the beach just in time to watch a group of kids trying to jump across the water to a rock that was about 3 feet away from the dry part of the beach.  Several of the kids hesitated a little too much and got their feet wet while a few others just weren’t paying attention and got wet up to the knees.  After we walked a little further down the beach, we saw two other ladies encounter the same problem.  See, the beach had a slight hill that the water almost never crested.  However, every once and a while, a large enough wave would come up and rush over that hill and soak anyone who was standing there.  Apparently it happened to mom the first day that she was there and she had to walk around in wet tennis shoes!

The day after we went to Montarosso, it was time to head back towards Arezzo to pick up our suitcases, say goodbye, and head to Florence.  Unfortunately, we were stuck on a train with some EXTREMELY annoying Italian middle schoolers that were screeching and kicking chairs the entire time.  They were being very rude and very loud, but it seems to be a very common theme amongst the younger Italians. 

It was a long day of travel, but it was really great to see the Bruschis one last time.  They were an amazing host family that definitely made Italy a home away from home.  Federica and Francesca were extremely helpful and Stefania was absolutely amazing.  She definitely filled in any time I was missing mom! It was a hard goodbye, but hopefully I’ll see them again. 

By the time that we finally got to Florence, we were all exhausted.  It’s funny how sitting on your butt all day can wear you out so much.  Our B&B host in Florence was a bit of a sleaze ball and the apartment wasn’t great, but the view from the tower was absolutely spectacular.  I’d seen the Duomo quite a few times at this point, but this was the best way to see it.  Not only were we right up on the dome, but the nighttime lighting was perfect at this level.  I would highly recommend it!

 

Our first real day in Florence was one crazy adventure.  We started out with the plan to buy our Firenze cards to be able to have an expedited entry into the various museums.  Unfortunately, our first stop to get the cards (the Uffizi) was a bit of a bust, so we headed next door to get one at the Palazzo Vecchio, which is where the fun really began:

I was walking in the lead, trying to see where the entrance to the ticket office was, and dad was apparently following right behind me.  Mom, being mom, wasn’t watching where her feet were and fell into a hole instead of walking on the level ground between the pillar and the dropped floor like dad and I had.  She had a very spectacular fall and scraped up and bruised her knee, in addition to further injuring her hip.  Every time she starts to feel better, she has another fall!

After a bit of recovery time, we continued with our plans for the day, which included the Uffizi Gallery, lunch near the Duomo, dad and I climbing the Duomo, and the leather market.  The Duomo wasn’t nearly as crowded this time around, which was really nice.  We only had to squeeze past people once or twice, which was much better than standing chest to chest with people like we did before, waiting for the path to clear.  On the way back down the stairs, we had a very funny American gentlemen who was cracking jokes the entire way down.  By the time we go to the bottom and went to get mom out of our decidedly not-so-great B&B, mom was asleep and her knee was stiff again. 

Once we got her moving, we headed towards the leather market, where I finally bought a purse.  I’d been looking all semester, but I’d never found one that I really liked.  Thankfully, I found one!  We had dinner right there at the leather market in the Mercato Centrale, which is absolutely delicious.  It’s built into an old warehouse with the bottom floor as a sort of merchant’s area and the top floor for us hungry people.  It’s kind of like that one wall of Whole Foods with the pizza and sandwiches and whatnot, but it’s the entire top floor of the building.  We had some amazing hamburgers and chips before heading back towards the B&B for the night. 

Sunday was our last day in Florence and pretty much our last day in Italy.  We got up early and went to see the David at the Galleria dell'Academia and to the Capella Medici, which is the burial grounds of several Medici family members.  Mom had been wanting to see something specifically Medici (despite the fact that Florence is basically the Medici family) so this was a perfect site that wasn’t too far from the B&B.  Afterwards, we had to drag our luggage to the train station for storage since we couldn’t get a late check out and it was quite the trek.  Normally, it’s only about a 10 minute walk from the Duomo to the train station, but dragging 5 suitcases and 3 backpacks along with us made it horrendous.  Not to mention, there was a 10K race running around the Duomo, so we had to push our way through the crowds, which made it even worse. 

Next, we headed back towards the Duomo to visit the Baptistery and the Museo del Opera, which is the buildings works commission of the Duomo.  The Baptistery was gorgeous, with very Gothic frescoes all over the ceilings and an intricate design on the marble floors.  It was definitely a sight to behold.  The Museo holds most of the original sculptures from the façade of the Duomo and even some from the Bell Tower.  The best part was that there were benches throughout the museum, which was very nice on our poor tired feet. 

By the time we finished the museum, it was sprinkling outside so we shot across the backside of the Duomo to Magnums, where we made a custom Magnum bar.  Thankfully, we only got one to split because it was incredibly rich, but also really delicious.  We got vanilla ice cream, dark chocolate coating, and pistachio, almond, and honey comb toppings. We sat there, enjoying our Magnum bar while watching the rain come down.  Eventually we headed towards the train station to catch our train to Rome for the night.

Our official day in Italy was an exhausting whirlwind, but it was amazing. We saw the last few highlights of Florence, had some good food, and enjoyed some down time.  

Mom and Dad Arrive in Italy

On Friday morning, mom and dad finally made it to Italy!  In case you didn’t know, this is mom’s first time out of the country other than to Cozumel on a cruise and to the Azores when she was two.  Dad, of course, has been everywhere.  Anyway, I met them at the airport in Rome so I could help them get back to Arezzo.  Unfortunately, they didn’t recognize their own daughter when they finally saw me.  I mean, I was holding up a handmade sign that said MOSES and everything, but still nothing. (I was going to print off a professional looking sign, but they stole the computers and printers out of the monastery)  After they finally saw me (after raising my sign as high as I could reach), we hopped on the Leonardo Express train to get to the train station in the center of Rome.  Despite having traveled for over 15 hours, they still had another 3 hour train ride before we got to Arezzo. 

We sat on the very hot train for just under three hours.  As I worked on a little bit of homework and then listened to the music, mom and dad passed out.  Especially dad.  In all fairness, they hadn’t exactly gotten a whole lot of sleep on the airplane, but it was still entertaining for me.  Not to mention, mom’s complaints about train bathrooms were hilarious.  She didn’t realize that they literally just dump straight onto the tracks so there’s a bit of a breeze coming up the hole!

By the time we finally reached Arezzo, we were all pretty tired so we headed straight towards their B&B.  We managed to check in mostly okay.  I translated most of what the woman was saying for mom and dad because she did not speak a lick of English, at least until she started trying to tell us something about some fee to the booking website.  I’m not entirely sure why she felt the need to tell us about this, especially considering it was obvious that we weren’t really understanding.  I had to call Colin, our GRD, to come to the rescue.  Apparently it wasn’t anything important, but we wanted to be sure that mom and dad didn’t still owe anything.  He was definitely a lifesaver!

Mom and dad were in desperate need of a nap after that, so I left them at the B&B while I headed back to do homework.  We met up again for dinner at a restaurant called Il Cantuccio, which is absolutely delicious and their cheesecake is to die for.  Mom and dad were falling asleep at the table, so I went back to the monastery and half-way worked on homework.  Mostly it consisted of staring at my rather horrible essay before deciding it wasn’t going to get any better, submitting it, and then watching Get Smart to make myself feel better, which then lead to watching Stardust until 2 am.  Probably not the greatest decision in my life, but oh well.

Today, mom and dad walked over to my family’s pastry shop for breakfast and they fell in love with them, just like my newfound muffin top and I did.  They both had one of Stefania’s delicious muffins and a cappuccino.  We walked to the Saturday market that I haven’t visited since the first weekend that we were here in Arezzo, which was a lot of fun.  It’s a huge market and we actually did find some fun things to buy, including a polka dot blazer.  For lunch, we stopped at Bar Stefano for some pasta before separating again so I could work on a paper for art history (which I’m supposed to be doing right now, but it’s not going real well.  I need another two pages but I’ve run out of things to say and my introduction is going nowhere).   Anyway, we met up again for a tour of the monastery where most of the students live and I study and hang out. 

We then went for a little walk down the Corso Italia which is the main shopping street of Arezzo and then stopped to get some stuff for a snack that ended up being pretty much dinner.  We bought mozzarella, (extremely hard) bread, some Pecorino cheese, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and pesto to go with the tomatoes that mom had bought at the market and just had a little snack while it rained.  It was nice and peaceful, listening to the rain and sitting with my family.  We were full at this point, but mom and dad would need something with a little protein so we ventured out into the rain to get some piadinas (they’re like a cross between a wrap and a quesadilla, but delicious).  

View out Mom and Dad's window

Anyway, mom and dad headed back to their B&B and I headed back to the monastery, where I am currently sitting and procrastinating on doing my homework, like an awesome college student.  Unfortunately, this the only productive thing that I can do while procrastinating, and its time has come to an end as well.  Oh well, here’s some pictures of mom and dad’s super exciting first day in Italy as a parting gift:

My Final European Adventure... for now!

So where was I? Oh, that’s right… BARCELONA!

This past weekend was my last trip in Europe, at least for the foreseeable future.  While it was not my favorite place that I have visited over the past four months, it was still a good trip.  Honestly, the best parts were the amazing food and spending several hours just sitting on the beach in the sun. 

We started off the trip kind of rough, considering we had to get up at 5 am to catch a train to get to Bologna to catch our flight.  Quite the adventure, right? By the time we got to Barcelona, we were already exhausted.  After checking into our hostel, we went to get some lunch at a local restaurant and it was AMAZING.  If you’ve never had paella, I would highly recommend it, especially if you are in Spain.  It’s a really simple dish, but it was sooooo good.  I had the Chicken Paella, which is basically just chunks of marinated chicken in rice that cooked in tomato sauce with all sorts of vegetables and juicy goodness.  Totally worth all those starch-filled calories. 

After we finished eating, we hopped on a bus to go to the beach, which was amazing.  We sat on the sand and just watched the water for a while before getting up and walking down the boardwalk.  There were a ton of Indian men selling mojitos, beer, and these gorgeous squares of linen that had really beautiful patterns on them.  I purchased on that has a green mandala on it that I absolutely love, although I really wanted one with elephants on it.  Oh well.  We did have a bit of a shock when we saw this older gentleman walking down the beach completely naked.  I wouldn’t have been that surprised other than the fact that he was literally the only person that was walking around naked.  And he wasn’t even going in the water, he was just walking down the sand and occasionally pausing to just look out at the water.  Rather odd, if you ask me.

We eventually left the beach and headed back into the city center, where we saw a Flamenco dance.  All of the singing was in either Spanish or Catalan, I honestly don’t know which, but it was still really cool.  From what we could gather, the show was about a love triangle between a woman and two men.  The dancers were really great.  The woman was amazing, especially when she wore this dress with a long, fluffy train.  She was whipping it around and up and it looked really cool.  The men, on the other hand, were absolutely fantastic.  The skill that they had and the speed that they moved at was phenomenal.  Most of the singers were really great too, although the one woman sounded like a dying goat, which was a bit unfortunate.  Overall, a really cool experience!

The next day, we went on a Modernism walking tour of the city.  Definitely not the highlight of the trip, but we did get to see a lot of the city and some really cool buildings.  For a while, the buildings in Barcelona could not have any color on them.  I can’t remember exactly why this is, but it was still really interesting.  After this color ban was lifted, the buildings were covered in mosaic tiles that are absolutely beautiful to see.  At the end of the walking tour, our guide took us to a local restaurant for some tapas, which are basically just appetizers.  However, they were absolutely delicious.  We had a bit of a variety, including Bravas potatoes, croquettes, meatballs, and chorizo.  It was all so good, although not quite enough food.  On the bright side, by the time we ate, it was almost three o’clock, so we didn’t have that much time until we could eat again. 

For dinner, we went to the Hard Rock Café.  I know, we ate American food in Barcelona, but we’d already eaten all of the typical Spanish food and it sounded really good.  And it really was, although it was a surprisingly small restaurant.  We had met an Australian kid on our tour of the city, and he came with us to Hard Rock café.  He didn’t entirely understand why Hard Rock is such a big thing, although to be honest, neither do I.  However, it’s good food and the music is great.  He was a really nice guy doing his gap year in Europe, although he was also a bit of a baby since he had just turned 19 in February.

Next, we went to this really cool fountain show in the main square of the city.  It’s kind of like the show in Vegas, but it changes colors and is set to different kinds of music, including rock n’ roll and classical.  It was absolutely gorgeous to see, although we only stayed for about 20 minutes.  Honestly, how long can you admire a fountain changing colors and making different shapes? And at that point it had changed to classical music that didn’t quite fit with the fountain’s colors and movements.  But who am I to judge! Afterwards, we just headed back to the hostel since we had been out for most of the day.  No, we did not hit the nightlife that Barcelona is famous for, but I do not regret it in the least. We did, however, see a group of break dancers near the fountain show.  They were really energetic and fun to watch, definitely a great part of the Barcelona culture.  

On our final day in Barcelona, we just went back to the beach.  We spent a while just sitting on the sand and enjoying the sun and the sound of the waves.  There was a nice breeze that kept it from being too hot so it was absolutely perfect.  While the others slept, I read what was left of my book and enjoyed the sights.  Eventually, we got up and headed to a fresh food market that was just down the road.  We ate some empanadas (they were cold but delicious), some fresh strawberries, and some amazing churros.  They were fresh and delicious and completely bad for us, but oh my god were they good.  We got some traditional sugar coated churros and some chocolate ones as well.  Afterwards, we walked along the harbor, looking at the various people selling random things.  They had everything from knockoff shoes and purses to keychains and Flamenco fans.  Unfortunately, it was then time to head towards the city center again to catch the train to the airport. 

I know it sounds odd, but the Barcelona airport was my favorite one this entire trip.  It was enormous, but still very clean and quiet.  When we walked through security, it was like we were walking into a mall.  There was an enormous circle filled with various shops for clothes and food, and there was even an entire wine store! Despite the size of it, it was practically silent.  Alright, that’s all I’ll say, since it is just an airport, but still!!!

Overall, it was a pretty good trip.  There were a few downsides and it certainly wasn’t my favorite city, but I definitely enjoyed the time on the beach.  It was nice to have a little bit of relaxation considering all of the work that I have due in the next two weeks.  Why they made this a free weekend is beyond me, but whatever.  

Irish I Was Still in Ireland

Ireland, the home of my people.  Well, some of my people, since we only have a little Irish heritage based on what we could find.  Some of my Scottish ancestors moved to Ireland, but I’m not sure if we actually have any Irish blood.  But who cares!

This past weekend, I travelled to Dublin with a friend to escape Italy for the weekend.  We had a mild mishap with our Air BNB, mostly because we arrived later than expected and didn’t have a way to contact her to tell her.  However, once we finally arrived, she was the nicest person you could meet.  She greeted us outside, showed us how to jimmy the key in the lock to get it to open, and then showed us into our room where she had a bowl of popcorn waiting for us! How awesome is that?! 

The following morning, we got up and headed towards the Dublin city center.  After wandering around for a bit, we walked into an amazing Irish gift show called Carrolls.  Everything was green and covered with sheep and shamrocks!  We spent a bit of time walking around and I probably bought more than I should have, but it was definitely worth it.  Afterwards, we headed across the river to a tourist office that we had spotted to see what there was to do in and around Dublin.  We ended up buying tickets for a hop-on hop-off bus tour of the city, which was more than worth the money. We also bought tickets to go see the Giants Causeway the following day. We drove around the city with the driver providing a commentary as we drove past interesting sights.  Our first stop was a nice, quiet little park.  I have no idea what the name of it was, but it was very beautiful. 

We hopped back on the next bus and rode until we got to St. Patrick’s Cathedral.  In case you didn’t know, it is actually a sort of memorial cathedral for people who died in wars throughout the churches history.  I certainly didn’t know it so it was really interesting to walk around and see the various tombs and dedications to colonels, generals, and what not.  They even had this cool little tree that you could write a leaf for someone you had lost and put it on the ground beneath the metal tree.  

We continued our trek through the city, seeing Phoenix Park where the US Embassy house sits across the roundabout from the President’s mansion, which I thought was interesting.  There are actually over 1000 deer within the park that people were even going up to pet.  How cool is that?! By the time we got back into the city center.  Thankfully, that bus tour gave us a coupon for a two-for-one meal at a restaurant in Temple Bar that we definitely took advantage of.  It was a great little restaurant and it had really good food!  The waiter recommended the lamb shank, which came with scalloped potatoes and steamed vegetables and it was amazing! Top it off with a Bulmer’s Cider and I was one full and happy person!  We decided to go to bed early since we had to be up early for our tour the following morning.

At the crack of dawn the following day, we were up and walking towards the city center as the sun was just peaking over the water of the river.  It was a farther walk than we thought, so we had to book it to make it to our bus on time, although it was late anyway.  We were headed out of the city by 730 though, and on our way toward Belfast.  Other than a brief stop for breakfast and to pick up some snacks (we bought sandwiches for lunch), it was a beautiful and quiet ride north to Belfast.  We were given the option of either doing a Black Taxi tour of the city or to go see the Titanic museum.  Since I’ve never actually seen Titanic, I chose the taxi tour and I was very glad I did.

Belfast is very intriguing city.  I learned a lot about the city during our taxi tour, most of which I had never heard about:  I knew that the IRA was still active, but I never really knew anything about them.  In Belfast, they have a rather rich and interesting history.  Back in 1969, the government began building what they called “peace walls” to separate the Catholic and Protestant neighborhoods.   The Catholics were definitely on the losing side of these walls, as they were placed into tiny little ghettoes that packed in over 1000 people per square mile.  At some point during the years that these walls went up, Protestants began bombing and attacking the Catholics of one particular ghetto.  At the time, there were fewer than 30 IRA members in the city and they had no weapons whatsoever, so they could do nothing about the conflict.  It got to the point that the British army was sent to protect ghetto.  Since they could no longer attack this ghetto, they turned their sights on the other.  Less than three days later, they were prepared to attack other ghettoes but the IRA had been busy.  Within those three days, over 1000 IRA members were in Belfast and armed to the teeth to prevent further conflict.  How amazing is that?

Today, there are murals throughout the city.  They depict support for refugees, remembrances for those killed in political conflicts, and memorials for innocents killed, including for those killed in the conflict mentioned above.  These murals are not allowed to have anything racist, sexist, homophobic, or secularist.  They also are only up for three years before they are repainted, with only two exceptions: an imitation of Picasso’s Guernica painted by a Protestant and a Catholic artist working together and a mural that was painted in remembrance of the Jews killed in WWII. Both of these painting were up for 5 years.  We also learned about Bobby Sands, an IRA leader who was imprisoned and lead hunger strikes to protest their political imprisonment as well as later “blanket” protests.  He was even elected as a Member of Parliament while still in jail, although he died of starvation in prison before he could take his seat.

The last stop of our tour was at Cupar Way, the longest peace wall of the city.  This wall was painted by several artists with the graffiti that had been on the Berlin wall before its demolition.  They hope that eventually the peace walls of the city will receive the same treatment, which is supposedly on its way.  The wall is covered with signatures of people advocating for its demolition, which actually began under Bill Clinton’s presidency.  He facilitated a peace process between the Irish and British governments and the IRA and decided to sign the wall.  It has also been signed by various political leaders and celebrities, including the Dali Lama, Beyonce, and Barack Obama, and now me!

Finally, we made it to the Giants Causeway, which was absolutely gorgeous.  I have come to the realization, however, that Hollywood and the internet ruins everything.  I thought the stones would be bigger.  Don’t get me wrong, it was absolutely gorgeous and I had a blast climbing around the stones and up the nearby hill to get a better view, but still…  All of the rocks are shaped like hexagons, the side effect of an ancient volcanic eruption apparently. Clearly that geology class I took didn’t cover hexagonal volcanic eruptions.  It is such an odd and unique view, all those geometric rocks being crashed against by the waves.  Some are covered with lichen, some with seaweed or moss, and others are just black from the constant abuse by the water.  It was absolutely gorgeous.  The water was a gorgeous turquoise and I really just didn’t want to leave.  It helped that it was a gorgeous sunny day, I’m sure.  Wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun if it had been pouring down rain.  We had about two hours to wander around and eat lunch while looking at the rolling green Irish hills before we headed off again. 

Our final stop of the day was the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge.  Yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like.  It’s a rope bridge that links the mainland to a tiny, rather useless little island, although some fisherman in the 1700s thought it was worth building a bridge to.  There’s even a little boat on the island that has absolutely no access to the water below, so I’m not sure what the point is.  However, it was really fun to cross the rope bridge in the gusting Irish breeze alongside a bunch of shrieking people (no that isn’t sarcasm).  It was really fun and it had a great view of the water and the cliffs of the mainland.  We spent a few minutes enjoying the view before we took the harrowing walk across the bridge again.  Good thing I’m not afraid of heights! After that, it was just a long bus ride back to Dublin with a quick little bus tour of the Belfast city center, which we did not see on our taxi tour. 

Along the drive, the bus driver threw out some random little facts every once and a while.  One of them, which he almost had some of the passengers around us believing, regarded the paint marks on the sheep throughout Ireland.  He claimed that the Scottish would come over during the night and graffiti the sheep out of spite.  The people around us were almost convinced.  By the time we got back to Dublin, we were rather hungry and tried to find a new place to eat.  Unfortunately, most places were too packed even for standing room so we ended up back at the restaurant from the previous night.  We had some absolutely amazing fish and chips before having a quick walk through Temple Bar (I mean when in Ireland do as the Irish do right?) although we were still back at our B&B before 11. 

We just kind of wandered around the last day, including going to see Trinity College. It's an absolutely beautiful campus, right in the heart of the bustling city.  You can't even hear the world outside, which was amazing.  Overall, it was a really great trip.  I’d love to go back one day and see the area where our family lived, but it was too difficult to get to with the little bit of time that we had.  Ireland reminded me a lot of Scotland, although Scotland definitely had better scenery in my opinion!  Sorry for the little bit of a history lesson, I was just really amazed!

The Little Things

You know, I really haven’t been homesick during my time in Italy.  I was more homesick moving the thirty minutes to Norman to live on campus my freshman year than I am here in Italy, over five thousand miles away! However, as we’re nearing the end of the semester, it’s the little things in life that I’m missing.  Those things you don’t really think about when you’re at home but become glaringly obvious once you’re in a different country. 

There’s a stomach bug going through our ranks at the moment that made us notice one thing that we definitely take for granted: late night shopping.  Back home, when you get sick late at night and need some medicine and a sprite or Gatorade, you know that there is a 7/11 or Walmart that you can drive to and get exactly what you need.  Here in Italy, you just kinda wander around and hope that you’ll find somewhere that is open so you can get a sprite for your friend who can’t stop throwing up.  Yeah, I know it’s a little gross, but it really is something that you don’t think about missing. 

Another thing, especially for the animal lovers, is being able to go up and pet a stranger’s dog.    In the states, if someone is walking their dog down the street, their practically asking for someone to come up and pet the dog!  There are so many dogs walking around here in Italy that asking to pet them isn’t really a thing.  Dogs are allowed in pretty much every shop and restaurant throughout Italy, which makes it really hard for an animal lover like me.  Especially when you see a really fluffy German shepherd who is just begging you to rub his ears.  It really is a struggle.

One of the things I really miss is just curling up on the couch in the evenings to watch television.  I know, it sounds horrible.  I’m in Italy, why do I want to just sit on the couch and watch television?!  It’s mostly on those days that I’ve been running all week and just want a little time to relax and unwind.  I miss curling up on the couch and watch some television with some company.  We have a tv room at the monastery here, but it’s just not the same.  They tried, but it’s not exactly a lounging room.  The couches are too hard and then there are these really awkward bean bag type things that you sit against more than you sit on. 

Even with all of these little things, there’s one thing that I really miss: hugs.  I know, it’s cheesy, but I really do miss them.  The Italian version of a hug is the cheek kissing thing, which just isn’t the same.  Sometimes you just need that big bear hug from someone.  It’s relaxing, especially after some of these really long days that we’ve had while we’re here. 

Alright, that’s all I have to say.  Only a month and a half until I go back to the states and I have mixed feelings about it.  

A Slightly Disappointing Weekend

Rome, the Eternal City.  Rome, the City of the Seven Hills.  Rome, the City of Love.  Personally, I’m not sure that any of these truly apply to the city anymore.  Maybe the City of Letdowns.

We finally made it to Rome this weekend on a class trip, and I have to say I was a little disappointed.  Everyone really talks Rome up, telling us about how great the city is for its history and amazing culture.  While yes, the city does have an amazing history, I definitely think that the culture has been trampled under the feet of the millions of tourists that pass through every year.  The calm and laidback atmosphere that you can find in almost every Italian town has been replaced with a constant barrage of people trying to sell things or get you to sit down at their restaurant.  You barely get a seconds peace as you walk through the city in search of the history that Rome is famous for. Honestly, I would not want to stay in Rome for more than a night after having been to some of the other cities in the country.

Anyway, we started our day in Rome at Cinecitta, the Italian version of Hollywood.  It’s pretty removed from the city center, but has a very quiet and peaceful feel to it.  We toured the various sets and sound stages, led by a lovely young woman who told us about the history of the site.  After walking around the area, we were allowed to look through the museums that they had, which were filled with costumes and directorial pieces from the movies that were produced on site.  In fact, several American productions were filmed here, including Gangs of New York and Rome. 

One of the Roman Sets

A Roman Triumphal Arch 

clashing with an Egyptian set!

Next, we headed back into the city center.  After hopping off the metro, we walked through the streets until we arrived at the Trevi Fountain.  Of everything that I saw this weekend, this was truly the greatest sight.  After walking through dingy, crowded streets for some time, we rounded a corner and there was the fountain in all its glory.  It is absolutely amazing that these works were created without modern technology and that it has stood for centuries.  The beautiful white marble gleamed in the sun and the water positively sparkled. Despite the crowd around the fountain, I could have sat there all day.  Unfortunately, that wasn’t the plan. After a moment to take a couple pictures, we continued on through the streets of Rome to get to the Pantheon.  The pantheon was cool as well, but since the inside has been converted into a Christian Church, it just doesn’t quite have the same majesty of the Trevi.  All the niches are filled with statues of Mary and other saints instead of the Roman Gods and Goddesses. 

Interior of the Pantheon

We had lunch near the pantheon before moving on to the Colosseum, which was a bit of a letdown thanks to Hollywood.  Movies always portray it as a massive, awe-inspiring work of engineering, which it definitely is, but it’s not quite as big as the movies portray.  Don’t get me wrong, it was a really amazing sight and I would love to spend some time there without all the other tourists, but it was a little underwhelming.  We walked by the Roman Forum and took some pictures, since it was already closed by the time we finished the Colosseum.

We were spending the night in Rome so we could head towards the coast for the weekend, so we went to check into our B&B before heading to dinner.  As we walked towards the address, we got a little worried because it wasn’t the greatest part of town.  Thankfully, the actually B&B was in a decent area and the room was very nice.  We headed towards dinner, which was delicious.  It took forever to get a table and then they thought we had already been served so it took even longer to get our food.  We were probably at the restaurant for about 2 hours just to get a couple plates of pasta.  However, there were a couple highlights to our meal.  There was a young man sitting behind me, maybe 15 years old, who kept getting up and tripping on my chair.  I was mildly frustrated with it, but as he was leaving he said the cutest thing: “Excuse me, miss, but your hair is on point!”  Absolutely adorable. After dinner, we went to an Ice Bar. We put on these lovely little poncho-parkas and went in to have a couple drinks.  Honestly, the drinks were rather disgusting, but it was an adventure nonetheless.  We had two awesome bartenders, including one who was Italian by blood by Irish by nature.  As some of our group did shots of vodka, he did an entire cup of Jägermeister like it was a shot.  He talked with a constant stream of profanities and was telling us that no Italians know how to properly speak Italian (to which his Italian colleague 100% agreed). 

Me and my Poncho Girls!

The next morning, we traveled three and a half hours by train to finally make it to Meta, which is where our B&B for the weekend was.  It was an adorable little town with a nice beach and delicious food.  We checked in, grabbed some lunch, and then headed toward Sorrento.  Sorrento was also another letdown unfortunately.  Everyone has been telling me that I have go to Sorrento because it’s so amazing but I really didn’t get it.  It is a very touristy town that has some of the charm of the smaller Italian towns but none of the character.  It didn’t even have a proper beach, which Meta did have.  Sorrento is famous for its Lemoncello and other lemon products, which I did buy.  I got some delicious lemon candies, and then went back the next day to get some more.  Unfortunately, several members of our group were not feeling well.  There seems to be a bug going around!  Anyway, we ate some delicious waffles before heading back to Meta to put the sickos in bed.  After our first location for dinner was closed, we happened upon a wannabe British pub called Covent Garden.  Thankfully, it was absolutely delicious!  I had some amazing barbecue ribs that I pretty much polished off.  Oh my god were they good!

Sorrento Harbor

Cliffs in Meta

Courtyard of our B&B

The following day, Michael left ridiculously early so he could catch the ferry to Capri while Ryan and I slept in.  We got up and checked out before heading down to the beach in Meta, which was gorgeous.  I really wished we had spent the day there instead of in Sorrento! We met Michael in Sorrento, grabbed a quick lunch, and then hopped on the metro so we could catch our train out of Naples.  I ended up in a section with an older Italian couple who were absolutely adorable.  They even offered me one of their sandwiches, which smelled amazing, but I was almost to Arezzo.  Overall, not a fantastic weekend, but at least there were no major incidences!