Bloggin' Around

HOLY COW!!

 I just found out you can do all sorts of things on blogs.  Like make pretty backgrounds with pink and crowns...but how do I do anything else?  Help!  Maggie?  Emma?  Libby? (Haaa, just kidding, Libby!)  Anyway, Emma wants this blog to be frequently updated with things about my life, so here goes.  But first, help me make it all pretty and I would very much like to learn how to embed links into the posts.  And...well...here's today's update.

Lent starts Wednesday; I have big plans to go to Ash Wednesday Mass

Tomorrow is Mardi Gras, I'm celebrating with 3 hours of work (watch out) and Bible Study.

       (Bible Study is going to include "Operation Mardi Gras."  It's a secret...I'll have to   tell you about it later!  (Not that anyone in B. Study will read this prior to tomorrow!)

Well, that's that.  See you all after someone teaches me more about blogging! 

(I have; however, figured out how to make the writing PINK!) :)  Life is good!


 
 

Home, Sweet Home

March 4th, 2011: Time to remember the trip home!

I was set to leave early in the morning on the 28th of December. But, wait! You are probably certainly wondering what my last meal in Italy was!!! You guess it--a Kebab (aka a Gyro). I loved them, they were about 3 Euro for plenty of delicious food and that is exactly what I wanted for my last meal. So, I took Maggie and Phil to this Kebab shop I'd seen earlier. (They even liked them so much that they went back later in the week before they left on the 1st of Janurary (or around then).)

Anyway, because they're so nice, Maggie and Phil rode the metro with me and got me on the Leo Express to the airport. (Thankfully they were there cause I didn't have enough cash to buy my train ticket!) They trip was about a half hour and I just waited for people to unload a little since I knew it would take me a couple minutes to grab both my bags. But, I learned a little something while in Europe. Everyone is a sucker for the damsel in distress! All I had to do was put a hand on my bag and get ready to move it when a nice European man asked if I needed help and proceeded to get my bags down the stairs of the train and onto the platform! :)

I began walking toward the TVs that had departure information and looked for my flight. Of course, it wasn't on there. And it was leaving in just over an hour. Ridiculous. I wanted to cry, but didn't. I just looked from TV to TV until I found it. (The only reason it was so important was because I was at a 3-pronged fork in the hallway and each path led to a completely different terminal.) Of course, there was no one around to help me. Anyway, I found it. Got on my flight to Zurich. Arrived in Zurich and left an hour later and headed to Chicago.

It took an absurdly long time to get my luggage in Chicago and it was even more frustrating because I knew my parents and Emma were right behind those opaque sliding doors--which I couldn't go through until I got my luggage. Finally, it arrived. I handed my customs card to the inspector and he laughed at me because I had written down "noodles" on sheet. Well, they said to write down everything and I figured since it was food, I should let them know. Anyway, I walked through the doors and saw mom, dad and Emma with my winter coat and a welcome home balloon.

We drove to Madison and had supper with Libby--my first food back in America was Red Lobster--I obviously got the chicken strips! It was funny because of the time-difference it felt like 4:30 (or 2:30, I can't remember now) in the morning when I was eating supper! I think I slept the rest of the way home then.

And before I knew it, I was welcomed into my bed that I had missed for 4 months. My amazing adventure in a far away land had come to an end. HOW BEAUTIFUL AND GREAT IT WAS!

Church Hopping

March 4th, 2011: Christmas 2010

We spent the next few days, okay, everyday until I left on the 28th, Church hopping. We would go to Mass everyday, eat pasta and bruschetta, usually look at a Saint's or apostles remains, look at some Italian art, etc. Some things out of the ordinary things that I just said:

-One night we went to the NAC (The Pontifical North American College) to see Maggie's college friend Vince's little brother, Jake, who is in the seminary there. He gave us a little tour of the NAC, let/made me pick an orange off the tree in the courtyard there. We went to the top of the NAC which has a ridiculously beautiful view of St. Peter's. Then, we went out to eat (pasta, of course).

-We went to the Papal Audience on Wednesday and got front row seats. There was a sweet Italian folk band playing prior to seeing the Holy Father. They were from Northern Italy up in the Alps (so they were more Swiss than Italian), but one of the men in the band must have had a son cause he was all dressed up and being super cute. It was hilarious, because they gave the little boy a recorder to play and the kid was pretty awful. :) Then, we saw Papa Benidetto! It was fun.

-One day we went to the Vatican Museums (I had gone when we went with our program to Rome, but it was fun to go again). Abe hadn't left yet, so we met him in St. Peter's square in the morning. Abe and I took off in one direction and Maggie and Phil went another way and we had plans to meet up later that afternoon. It was really crazy to go to the Museums and realize how much I had actually learned about art in just a few short months.

-We went to the Papal Mass on Chirstmas Eve at 10pm. It as beautiful. We got in line at 3ish and the doors were going to open at 8 or 8:30. We were probably 200th-ish in line. By the time all of the little Italian nuns (and other Italians) got done cutting in line, we were proabably the 1000th people in St. Peter's. Purely ridiculous. But, the Mass was super beautiful. Papa got tackled though. We actually didn't know that he got tackled until I got home four days later because we couldn't see anything. But, have no fear, it was not Maggie, Phil or me that tackled him.

-On Christmas, the doors to the conent were going to be locked from 12-3 so the sisters could have their own Christmas party. We decided we didn't want to be out for all three hours so we just stayed in. I had given Maggie 20 Euro for her Birthday gift (mostly because I forgot I had to get her both a Christmas and Birthday gift, so that took care of it!). :) The cash came with the instruction that it had to be spent at this sweet Catholic gift store near our convent. Maggie had bought a puzzle of Michelangelo's Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel. Also, on the 23rd probably (prior to Maggie's birthday supper) we went grocery shopping to get food for Christmas (and for when we stood in line at the Vatican for Mass). So, we had pop, bread, sandwich meat, and cheese. We just hung out on Christmas and had some food; Maggie and Phil did the puzzle and I read Pride and Prejudice all day (and finished it before bed!). Maggie and Phil also finished the puzzle before bed--because Maggie wouldn't let Phil go to bed until it was finished...poor guy. (We also had the orange that I picked from the NAC so it kind of felt like Christmas in Little Women since we had that orange as a special treat! :))

-We went on the Scavi Tour one day. This is the tour where you go in the tombs and whatnot below St. Peter's and get to see St. Peter's bones!

-One day we went and saw the major Cathedrals (St. Paul's outside the Walls, St. Petere's, St. John Lateran and St. Mary Major).

-I can't think of much more right now--probably because it was 14 months ago, but if I think of anything else, I'll add it!

The much anticipated arrival!

March 4th, 2011: Reminiscing about my Roman Christmas.

When you fly into Fiumicino airport in Rome you have to take the Leonardo Express train about a half hour ride into the train station in Rome to get downtown. Maggie and Phil were set to arrive at some-time a.m. and I took the metro to the train station to meet them at the pre-determined time. I was, yet again, a little early.

It was cold, again, but thankfully I brought Jane Austen with me so I stood around and read for a while. I couldn't really go anywhere because I didn't want to miss Maggie and Phil--mostly because I was afraid they would have to try and find the convent by themselves. Well, the pre-determined time came and went. I wandered around the train station a bit, went and bought some hand soap since our room at the convent didn't have any. Checked out a bookstore for a while. Bought some croissants for Maggie and Phil in case they were hungry when they arrived. Read a little more. Tried to stay warm. Well, I best stop giving such a detailed account of fear of boring you even more!

It was a strange feeling waiting because I had no idea when they were going to arrive since they didn't come when they were supposed to. (Maggie had said if I waited around and they didn't come just got back to the convent and they'd meet me there later that afternoon--but, again, I didn't want to leave them without help finding the convent.)

Well, after a while I spotted Phil and Maggie. Hugs were exchanged and we headed toward the metro. It was fun seeing them since I left 2 days after their wedding! We made our way to the convent where they settled in a little. They had to check in with the sisters too. The sister asked if they were married (probably because we were all staying in the same room) and when they answered affirmatively, she thanked them. It was funny. Phil also asked the sister his one well-practiced and prepared sentence in Italian about whether the doors would stay open later than 10pm on Christmas Eve when we were going to the 10pm Papal Mass.

I think that day we just walked around a little, probably went into St. Peter's, ate pasta, and got gelato--at least once.

They were jet lagged, so we went to bed early. I read some Pride and Prejudice then hit the hay also.

Nothing like almost getting abducted in Rome! (And other Roman adventures!)

March 4th, 2011: Looking back on the end of my semester abroad.

After some time on the train and much waiting in the cold we made it to Rome! (Yunha took an earlier train than us so it was just Abe, Julian, Amanda and me left.) Julian, Abe and Amanda were staying at a hostel together near the train station and I was headed to the Convent guest house that Maggie, Phil and I were staying at. Maggie and Phil were scheduled to arrive the next morning. We stood around in the train station trying to figure out what exactly our gameplan was. It was early afternoon and we wanted to meet up later for supper so that I didn't have to spend all night alone. :) We decided that we would all get in a cab together (which, reflecting upon it, was kind of a crazy idea since we have so much luggage!).

We walked outside to find the taxi stand and were immediately approached by a gentleman claiming to be a taxi driver. We thought, "alright, let's go load up his cab." Only, we walked right by the taxi stand and kept walking to a parking lot that was probably a hundred meters or so from the train station. Anyway, the nice gentleman took one of my giant 50+ lbs. bags and started walking fast toward that parking lot. Julian, Amanda, and Abe were a little behind looking at a map debating if they could just walk to their hostel. (I knew a cab was necessary since I had no clue where my convent was!) Abe, like the smart man he is, saw the guy take off with one of my bags and me jog after him with my other bag and followed us. He said that he thought, "I don't know what's going on really, but I'm not going to let Jane go alone." (Praise the Lord for that!) Anyway, we arrive at his "cab" and it's a decentely sketchy unmarked white, small SUV/delievery truck-esk thing. Anyway, no where did it say "Taxi" or "City of Rome" or ANYTHING indicating this guy wasn't scamming us and wanting to kill us. He loaded my bag in the truck of his car and starts grabbing for my other one. At this point Abe has almost caught up to us, but not quite yet. I start (sass-ily) asking the guy if his car was a taxi and he was a legit cab driver. He started pointing to this little plastic trinket near his licesnse plate claiming that meant he was legit. (I like to compare the little plastic thing to something a child might find in his happy meal.) At that point, I got really sassy and grabbed my bag out of his car and started telling him, "I'm not riding with you, you are not a real taxi driver." I grabbed my bag out of his car, turned around, flipped my hair at him, and walked back to the (actual) taxi stand--I was pretty proud of myself for not getting in a situation that could potentially end in death!

Well, we found a real taxi (whew!). The man dropped the other three at their hotel and then was going to take me to mine in Vatican City. My friends and I made plans to meet up at 6:30pm at the Pantheon. I think it was about 3:30 when I bid them farewell with hopes to see them a few hours later. The nice man drove me to Vatican City and pointed out some of the landmarks of Rome as we drove past them. He dropped my off on the main road right in front of St. Peter's and told me he wasn't going to go down the road but pointed me in the right direction. I was full of confidence--you know, since I didn't get killed and all--so I strapped on my backpack, put my other bag on, and started dragging my 100 lbs of luggage in two suitcases. (I'm going to go ahead and estimate I had a solid 125-150 pounds of luggage...that get's important later...)

I confidentely walk towards the street and start looking for 43 Whatever Name Street. I found the street and it was kind of at a weird angle so I wasn't quite sure which way the street went. I began walking back and forth, consulting my mapquest directions and comparing it to landmarks. It looked as though it was right next to this church that I found so I walked in to see if anyone there knew about it. They had no clue what I was talking about. I found a nice family and asked if they could point me in the right direction; they, too, had no clue where it was. So, I walked back and forth, and back, and forth again. I found where 43 Whatever Name Street should have been but it wasn't actually there, or maybe it was, but on the wrong side of the road. It's really hard to explain unless you can see this building that I was walking in front of--it had lots of addresses on it?! Nevermind, the important thing is that I walked back and forth (with 125-150 pounds of luggage) for an hour. The family that I originally asked for directions ended up coming back from wherever they went and looked at me with such sympathetic eyes and I could tell they wanted to help me so badly--but couldn't.

I was ridiculously close to finding a cab and having them take me to the Pantheon where I would sit until 6:30 when my friends came and then go back to their hotel--but that option seemed so horrible since I was super sweaty and tired from carrying my bags.

I had seen this sign that talked about PJPII calling for a revival of the youth of the world or something. Anyway, they had this club? hangout? for youth and I walked around trying to find that instead. I figured: I was a youth, it was around where I was supposed to be, maybe there would be a nice person there that could help me. Thanks to God, there was a gate that was unlocked but probably supposed to be locked. I found this club thing and rang the doorbell. A nice Indian priest came to the door and helped me. I asked if he knew where the convent was and he called a priest friend of his from upstairs. They decided maybe it was this convent that they had a meeting at the month before. The first priest grabbed one of my bags for me and we started toward this place they met. IT WAS THE RIGHT CONVENT!!!! I had never been so relieved in my life. It was 4:30/5:00 at this point and I was sweating and tired so I hopped in the shower and got ready to meet my friends for supper.

Yet another adventure awaited me as I had to walk from Vatican City to the Pantheon. This ended up being a ridulously easy endeavour and I arrived at the Pantheon a half hour early. (I left early so I made sure I got there on time...) Anyway, I walked into the Pantheon and strolled around for a while. And then a while longer. It was really cold outside and kind of cold inside, but I toughed it out. Then, I sat down for a while and rested. Then, it was 7 o'clock and the Pantheon closed (remember, they were supposed to be ther by 6:30!) I proceeded to sit around for a long time outside (in the freezing cold) and wait longer.

I had some spare time so I took a bunch of pictures f the Pantheon,
here's one for your enjoyment.

Well, it was about 7:30 and I had to eat and be back at the convent before 9 (or 10?) when the sisters locked the convent doors for the night. I was so cold and hungry that I found a pizze joint and got some yummy broccoli pizza. Then I started walking towards the convent only to, yes, run into my friends! They got super lost and ended up revising their plans and trying to find a cab to take them to the Pantheon. I was so excited to find them and have human contact after all of my adventures that I didn't even care that they were over an hour late! :) But, I went with them and watched them eat supper. Then, they wanted to stop for gelato before heading home. I was going to just go with them since I'm pretty sure I had hypothermia, but then I saw Kiwi gelato and couldn't pass that up so I got some gelato!! Then, I said bye and wished good travels to Julian and Amanda, made plans with Abe to meet him at the Vatican museums on the 22nd-ish and headed toward the convent. I was so excited to lay down for bed that night...thinking back I can still feel myself fall into my bed in a mix of feelings and emotions: utter exhaustion, relief, excitement to see Maggie and Phil, saddness about leaving the villa, anticipation for Christmas, and on-and-on the list goes.

Here I'll end my account of adventures with the Villains, the Villa Corsi-Salviati, a semester in Italy, traveling to whatever country I please on the weekend, free passes to Florence's finest museums, my private Italian Chef, and so much more. Next, I'll reccount my Roman Christmas--or what I remember from it.

The last days in the Villa

March 4th, 2011: Remembering my adventures far away.

The semester wrapped up with some tests and papers but nothing too outrageous. Alright, let's be real, I had to write a 12-14 (but Prof. Binetti didn't want it any less that 15 pages) page paper about modern Italian film and literature. Not my cup of tea, but I succeeded. (I wrote about relationships between fathers and sons in the literature and films we watched...who knows...I passed the class, so it must have been an okay paper!) I had an 8 page Art History paper too. I wrote about Michelangelo's Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel and how it is a product of the Sack of Rome and the Protestant Reformation. I now know more about Renaissance art, Italian Fascism, foreigners' experiences in Italy and the Italian language than I would have imagined I would learn!

Three of the ladies studying at teh Villa actually graudated over there so we threw them a graduation ceremony one of our last nights there; it was complete with champange, diplomas, gifts, laurel wreaths and Pomp and Circumstance. Then, we headed out to a club/bar in Sesto called "Isolde" for a final party.

The last night at the Villa it snowed! (Helen said it was more snow than she's seen in 5 years in Florence.) Needless to say, with a snowfall every 5 years, no one knows how to deal with the snow. And by no one, I obviously mean transportation. Everything was behind, trains, planes, and automobiles! Snow-covered formal gardens of the Villa.

Check out the length of the delays of the trains.

Anyway, after we left the villa and took the bus downtown we bought train tickets for Rome. The "we" here is Abe, Julian, Amanda Villa and Yunha. They all had flights leaving from Rome the next day and I was headed there to meet up with Maggie and Phil. The delays were riduclous, the cold was unbearable (Of course, that's relative compared to the cold I experienced upon my return to WI)! Oh, and we were famished but didn't want to leave to get food since all of us had 4 months worth of luggage and we feared that as soon as we left our train would be ready to leave! During the 2? 3? hours we were waiting for a train we took turns waiting in the enclosed waiting room to thaw from the freezing cold train station area where our luggage was. Eventually, Abe and I ran to the Chinese restaurant across the street to get a food--we made it back in time for the train, don't worry!

Here's a funny story: You're in Florence and go to a Chinese retaurant with orders for 4-5 Americans. One of your friends tells you to order orange chicken for her. Where does one usually find orange chicken? Panda Express? Stir Fry 88? (i.e. food court Chinese restaurants!) Anyway, we asked if they had it and the young employee looked at us as though we were insane and said, "no." Then, the older woman, presumably the boss, said "Oh, yeah, yeah, no problem." So, we see her grab an orange from behind the bar and retreat into the kitchen. You may now be wondering what Amanda's orange chicken actually tasted like, right? Well, I'm pretty sure they took their regular chicken dish and added a few slices of orange peal and ORANGE FANTA! It tasted so much like orange pop, it was ridiculous!

Anyway, we ate, took a long train ride, and eventaully arrived in Roma! More to come about our crazy, nearly-terrifying? deadly? adventures in Rome.

Before I do anything else with this blog...

March 4th, 2011: time to remember what I did in Italy!

I should try and remember what I did during the rest of my trip to Italy. I might be curious someday. The only problem is that I've been home for over a year....soooo hear goes.

My last post was about our program's trip to Rome. That trip happened in early November and our program ended December 18th-ish.

I'm thinking I didn't do a whole lot of outside of Florence the last month--namely because I don't have any pictures of new adventures. Some things I did do in/around Florence:


-We spent a bunch of time in downtown Florence. Lot's of shopping at the market buying souvenirs and Christmas gifts for everyone. We still went downtown every Tuesday morning for our Art History class tours of museums around town.

Downtown Florence. So Beautiful!!

-We went to l'Opera. Yes, the opera! I, obviously, had to go buy a new dress for this fancy occasion so a few of us ladies went downtown Florence and did some shopping. As much as I'd love to say my dress came from Gucci or Fendi or something, I crossed the street from the fancy stores and went to H&M! :) The Opera was great and we had a lot of fun. I, thankfully, watched the VHS of the same Opera we were seeing with English subtitles so I kind of understood what was going on. Okay, the fun part was getting dressed up and going out for drinks ahead of time! :)

Me, Amanda and Laura waiting for the train to go downtown before the Opera.

-We had a fabulous Thanksgiving Dinner at the Villa. Bruno cooked us the whole meal--green mashed potatoes and all. (I think he put pureed broccoli or something in it; it tasted normal just looked ridiculous!) The English teachers from the local schools that we had been doing internships with all came for supper too which was fun. We did, unfortunately have classes on Thanksgiving day--lamesauce. But, a large group of us played some football before supper, so that was fun!

Here's some people playing calcio (soccer) on the old clay tennis court at the villa.
I can't find a picture of us playing football, but we played a lot of soccer at the end of the semester too!

-One day, a Christmas tree appeared in the common room/entrance room to part of the Villa. There was a note from Helen that said we should decorate it, so we did!

The slightly crooked Villa Christmas tree!

-Another day, we went to a town called Prato. We were looking for a biscotti factory, but could not find it anywhere. Oh well, it was a fun day trip. We got some Pizza for lunch and Diana and I separated from the other girls to try and keep looking for the biscotti factory. (Which means getting off at a different train stop and not finding the factory then proceeding to try and find buses to take us back to the villa before supper. I can't remember now, but I think we succeeded!)

Here's the Duomo (Cathedral) in Prato

-Our house fellow/RA, Amanda, had arranged for us to go to a Fiorentina soccer game. Since soccer is so crazy/slightly out of control sometimes, getting tickets to games is kind of an ordeal. We had to give her our passports to get the tickets! Anyway, the game was fun, the fans we not as rowdy as I would have liked to see though! :)

(Crazy-ish) Fiorentina fans!

-A different adventure had Helen, the Villa Manager (an Austrailian-turned-Italian) take us on a hike in the hills near Sesto to her house. It was fun; we saw olive trees and the sight where da Vinci had one of his students try and "fly" (fail!). It was yet another fun day trip.

Here's some of us during our hike with Helen.

I'm going to do two more quick posts about the ends of my adventures at the Villa Corsi-Salviati.

Wine at the Trevie Fountain

After the tour of the "Parco della Musica", Diana, Laura and I headed on a quick hunt for lots of the bigs things to see in Rome. We took the metro to Via Veneto, a street where all the famous people used to hang out and of which we talked about in class. Then we ran to the Spanish steps, which had these large concrete things on them. They were some sort of demonstration that just didn't belong there. After that we ran to the Trevie Fountain. Diana really wanted pictures of all of these things in the day time, so that is why there was so much running.

Well, the Trevie was our last stop and we met up with some people there and decided that we all deserved a break after a long day. We went back to the hotel and everyone came and hung out in our room and we had some girl time. (You know, we chatted about the boys we like, etc..haha)

Anywho, after girl-time we went out to supper. We went to a cute little restaurant and had some more great food and bonding time! Then (this is where the title of the post comes in) we got some wine and went and sat by the Trevie Fountain and drank our wine. It was so relaxing and fun; definitely something that doesn't happen everyday! After an hour or two we headed back to the hotel and hung out in the guys room for a while.

(Hint: the next paragraph is quite boring and lists museums/villas/artists we saw on Saturday morning. Feel free to skip it!)
The next day, it was up early to visit the Cancelleria where we got to see Giorgio Vasari's room of 100 days (someone we studied a bit) and a cool exhibit of Leonardo Da Vinci's machines. Then, we headed to the suburban Villa Farnesina which had a hall painted by Raphael. We had a bit of time off where we ate lunch and walked around until we headed back to the hotel to get the bus to go to the Villa Borghese. This Villa was also filled with artwork; a lot by Micheangelo called Carravaggio (not the Michelangelo Buonarroti with whom we are all familiar! ;)) and a temporary exhibit comparing Caravaggio and Bacon. As someone who doesn't appreciate, or understand, modern/contemporary art, I was more interested in teh Caravaggio. Italian has truly taught me how to appreciate/like Renaissance Art. I never thought I'd say/write that!!!

After the Borghese we got on the bus and headed home. At the Villa Corsi Salviati (our villa) we had a lovely supper cooked by Bruno then broke apart from each other and skyped/facebooked/looked at pictures, etc.

Rome was such a fantastic trip and I'm so glad that I'm going back for ten days; it'll be great!

Also, I failed to mention all the times that we got gelato in Rome. I hadn't had it since before fall break, so we accidently binged a bit in Rome...oh well......

Sisters, Sisters, Sisters

First of all, the whole time we were in Rome, I counted the number of nuns/sisters in habits that I saw. My total count was 63! And we only spent about 3-4 hours in Vatican City. I can't imagine what my count could be over the ten day trip to Rome for Christmas! It made me really happt to count the sisters and all my friends were helping me out--but, have no fear, I am the best at sighting habits and veils! :)

Anyway, the trip started early Thursday morning; we ate breakfast, packed our lunches, and headed to the bus that was chartered to take us down to Rome. 3-4ish hours later we arrived in Rome. We had a little time to unpack and get settled. I roomed with Laura and Diana. It was a great situation...and the hotel was just like an American hotel, which was quite pleasing! (Towels in the room, bathroom/shower in the room...)

Then, we headed out to meet our guides for the Roman Forum and Coliseum. The tour lasted about 3 hours and we learned all about the ancient, ancient, ancient city of Rome. It was so weird to think I was standing on the same ground that people stood on and rode their chariots on so many thousands of years ago. After the tour of the Forum, the guides took us to the Coliseum and told us a bit about it; then we were free to go. Diana and I ran around the Coliseum taking pictures and looking at it. It was such a strange place....gladiators....human sacrafices...all that crazy gross stuff! I have a picture of me in the Coliseum and I'm smiling...I realized later when I saw it that it is kinda weird to smile there but oh well! Anyway, at 4:30 we met Professor Mariotti at the Arch of Constantine (after getting gelato!) for a little walking tour back toward the hotel. The hotel was by the Theatre of Pompey, which meant nothing to me in terms of geography so I figured I should take advantage of Professor Mariotti's sense of direction in Rome. Per usual, the tour was informative and filled with facts (most of which I can't remember anymore..but it was great nonetheless!).

After adventures back near the hotel to the Fountain of the River Gods we headed to supper. I think there were 6 of us and we ate at outside at a restaurant in some Piazza so that we could people watch. I had a delicious noodle with crushed red pepper (apparently a specialty of Rome); I loved it so much since, evidently, Tuscany doesn't know spicy...and I like spicy! Anyway, after supper we got some wine and ran into some architechture students. Then, a group of about 8 of us found a random bench connected to a building in a random piazza and drank our wine and took some pictures. It wasn't until the next morning on our way to Vatican City that we found out we were drinking wine and "chilling" literally on the steps of the French Embassy...whoops! :)

After our French Embassy encounter we headed back to the hotel for bed. Early Friday morning we set off for our hike to Vatican City. It was a twenty minute or half hour walk and we were there staring at THE VATICAN! It was quite a sight...needless to say my "nun count" shot up from about 9 to 43 in the next few hours. We were told a bit about the structures and what we would see (we had already had 3 hours of in-class lecture on this) and then set loose in the Vatican Museum. I won't go into terrible detail about what I saw, but I do have a couple funny stories:

1) I went through the Museums with Diana and we decided to go to the Sistine Chapel prior to the stanze (rooms) of Raphael. The Sistine is supposed to be the last part of your tour and you can't get back to other parts of the museum....oops! Anyway, we needed to get back in and went and talked and smiled to the guards who let us sneak up the stairs you can only go down "because we were nice"...anyway, we felt pretty cool.

2) When we finished our exploration of the Raphael Stanze and got a decently-priced espresso (how Italian do I sound?) we went back to the Sistine. We were told we had to leave out the door on the left because it will put us right at St. Peter's. Well, that door is reserved for tour groups, but we were told to, whatever we do, get through that door. If you go out the other door you have to walk around the whole country, literally, and then go through security again. Well, the door was shut and there was a mean looking guard by it. So, what do Diana and I do? We blend in with a tour group. A tour group, of Asains! It was funny. The tour guide came and asked us in Italian where we were going, etc. We thought he was going to yell at us but he was super nice and said (in Italian), "Oh yeah, you're going the right way..." That whole situation made me giggle quite a bit!

After this we went through the crypt where a bunch of popes are buried, including John Paul the Great. It was cool to see....Anyway....

3) St. Peter's treasury. It cost 4 Euro to get in and I figured I would go with Maggie and Phil in December and she decided she didn't need to go in. We ran into our friends Ryan and Katie near there and they were also debating paying to get in. Diana and I decided to buy postcards. She walked up to the checkout and said in Italian, "I think I have 5." Well, he corrected her and told her she needed the subjunctive form or something and we started talking. He asked us where we were from and questions like that. Upon hearing we were from WI he says, "Oh, 'That 70s Show" and got really excited because he likes that show. Anyway, others were approaching the checkout and he says, "Do you want to go into the museum for free?" And we say, "What? huh?" Then he told us to wait a minute. After he helped the other customers he asked his question again and upon answering in the affirmative, he took us and told his buddy to let us in for free! It was great!

(I think Diana and I might make a good pair because we got a free bus ride in Oslo too. We like to think it's because we're cute!)

Anyway, after the museum and a walk around St. Peter's we had to get going to make it to the Music Park. It's a newer construction of three huge concert halls that we got a tour of. It was alright and cool to see. The best part was the extremely comfortable chairs. I wanted to steal some for the classroom here at the villa.

I'm going to continue the post from Roma in another post so as to encourage people to read it....it's a little long now....

Raise your hand if....

....you are terrible at blogging!

I'm raising my hand. It's been a while. So much has happened that I've failed to write about....darnit. It all stopped after my trip to Rome when I didn't want to blog without our schedule so that I could make sure to write everything that I did. I could never find the schedule. So, alas, you will only get what I can remember three weeks later...