Assissi, Pisa, Cinque Terra, and Rome

Ciao bellas and bellos! Wow it's been a while since I have posted anything and I feel so behind...My apartment in Montepulciano does not get internet anymore so I haven't been on much. Plus Im just tired as hell. Soooo yeah I am going to catch up on Assissi, Pisa, Cinque Terra, Rome, Herculaneum, and Naples. And I just got back from Sorrento for dinner so that too. Ok So Assissi, it was one of the coolest places I have been to yet. I can't really put my finger on why, but it was just really beautiful. The town was built with white and pink stone and was a huge change from what we have seen so far. We went to mostly churches including the one that was built around St. Francis's little chapel that he started. That church is the seventh largest in the world! It was cool, especially since you can see the contrast between the tiny chapel and the church that was built around it in honor of it. We also saw St. Francis's death place and his tomb which was located in another church. One church that we went to was so beautiful because it was so rich in blue and gold colors...then one of the professors pointed out the blood drain where they sacrificed humans lol. There were also a lot of places throughout the city that showed us where the old town used to be. For example, part of the floor is glass and underneath is remnants from the old Assissi during the Middle Ages. It was cool to see how much lower the town was. After a few churches we climbed to the very top of Assissi to a fort! It was one of my favorite parts of my entire Italy trip. The hike up to the top was pretty tough because it was supposedly one of the hottest days of the year but it was so worth it when I got up to the very tip top of it. I'll post a picture on here of me at the very top. So after that intensity we went to the last church and that was where St. Francis was burried. The church was beautiful, it had an upper and lower church and St. Francis was in a lower level in kind of a cave looking area. Also we saw a lot of other holy people's tombs there, and like I knew I would, I forgot the names. This last church had some really pretty stained glass windows and our tour guide guy spoke a lot about it and kind of gave me a better understanding of why they were so important during those times. Oh, there was also this munk guy who came out and yelled in the middle of town "ASSISSI! ASSISSI!" and some other Italian things and it was a tad eerie for some reason lol. So anyway, I never thought I would walk away from Assissi loving it, but I did. Its a must see! It was pretty hilly but the view was spectacular. Moving on to Pisa...It was of course really cool to see the leaning tower up close. Apparently all of the buildings in that general area are slightly leaning as well. Everything to see in Pisa is literally right next to each other so we had a lax day that day. We saw a church that had a Holy Roman Emperor burried there and some really emaculate podium with marble columns and biblical stories carved into the sides. We also saw a huge baptistry and if I recall it was the largest or one of the largest in the world. The accoustics were amazing and a guy came in and shut the door and sang a few notes for us. Lastly, we went to a huge place filled with tombs. A bunch of people from our group climbed the leaning tower but I stayed behind and instead I got shat on by a bird. I did, however, take a good picture of me holding up the tower with my butt. Thats pretty much it for Pisa, its really cool to see the tower but I would never make a whole day of it, although somehow we did haha. Neeeext is Cinque Terra. Ughhh I loved this place so much! I highly advise going to Cinque Terra for a weekend or longer. Its on the west coast of northern Italy and has the most beautiful waters I have ever seen. We left from Pisa (me and a group of like 10 other people) and took the train to Riomaggiore, which is one of the five towns in Cinque Terra. Cinque Terra means five lands if I'm not mistaken. Anyway so we went there and climbed a million steps to our apartment and it had such a great view of the mediterranean! We did the dinner thing and then walked out to the edge of the town on the water and hung out on the rocks...the next day a bunch of people from our group did the hike between the last two towns and me and Rachel and Chelsea just went ahead to the last town Monterosso and waited for them. Monterosso was so big and beautiful and the beach was glorious! The only thing that was hard to get used to was that the beach was all rocks and tiny pebbles so it hurt to walk on and lay on. The waves were HUGE and one got a strong hold on me lol. By the time I came up my bottoms and top were off. But its ok because naked people were walking around all day. Especially little boys, it was so weird they would walk around with a shirt on but no pants. And little girls walked around with pants on but no tops. And then there were some old ladies with no tops. And some people dont believe in shaving. I kind of anticipated some of this but just being around it was very interesting. Later on that night we went back to our town and saw the sunset behind a huge mountain and it too was glorious! Cinque Terra is known for its Pesto so that night I got spaghetti alla pesto and it was the best I've ever had! And I'm not just saying that...it had like mozzarella or some type of white stringy cheese in it and globs of pesto sauce and chunks of potatoes. I will always compare all pesto to that now. So the next day we all got up checked out of our apartment and went down to the rocks again. 8 out of the 11 in our group decided to go cliff diving off of one of the cliffs right there at the edge of the town. I got some good pictures and videos of them. Apparently that place is not very safe and people died there recently by falling off...:/ Ok so Rome. PS this is the third time I have been to Rome now and I finally got to see the Colloseum, Pantheon, Forum, and Trevi Fountain. The Colloseum was so freaking awesome to see on the inside. Just imagining all the Romans gathering together and watching Gladitorial games was so fun. It was crazy to think of all the blood shed that went down in there. Oh I forgot we went to a church, I want to say it was called something about St. Peter...because it had his chains showcased in the center of it. There was also a very famous wall of sculptures by Michelangelo including one of Moses. It was the one that had horns and apparently it was a mistake to put horns on Moses but there was a mistranslation during Michelangelo's time about the Bible and Moses. Next, the Roman Forum. We saw a lot of cool ruins and places where gladiators fought before the colloseum. Also a temple of Romulus was there and the house of the Vestal Virgins. We didn't get to spend as much time as I wanted to there but I hope to go back again some day. After we exited Capitoline hill I saw a big Bronze sculpture of Marcus Aurelius which was awesome because he was one of my favorite Emperors and I love Meditations that he wrote. We went by the Pantheon and it was also cool. It looked different than I pictured it and I just realized thats because I pictured the Greek Parthenon for some odd reason. Anyway, Rafael the famous painter is burried there and that is pretty much all that I remember about the inside. It was ridiculously packed and its honestly prettier on the outside. Before we went to the Trevi Fountain we went to some other fountain and I can't remember the significance of it because by this time the heat was getting to me and I was ready to be done. BTW we start our field trips by meeting at the bus station at 6:45am and go to wherever we are going, and then meet back at the bus at 4...so by this time it was well into the afternoon and I was ready to crack skulls because Rome heat is not really a joke. Its like the opposite of a joke. Like an unjoke. Needless to say that fountain I could have done without because when we got to the Trevi we had five minutes to take a picture and then we had to haul it all the way back across Rome in 30 minutes to catch the bus. The Trevi was really pretty but soooo unbelievably packed so I didn't get to have a moment with it or anything lol. I did throw in a coin though. So that was Rome in a nutshell...Rome was Tuesday, and Wednesday me and my History of Rome class all left for Pompeii. I am here right now on the last of the three nights and it has been a great weekend of a TON of ancient ruins. I am going to cut it off here tonight because I have to get up early to go back to Montepulciano but I will post about Herculaneum, Naples, Sorrento, and Pompeii when I get back. It makes me tired just thinking about what I did this weekend. G'night. :)

Roma!

Ciao everyone! So thursday we went to Roma and got to see some really cool museums. I haven't visited the Colloseum, Pantheon or the Trevi Fountain yet, but I am supposed to next time we go back. We went to a museum that had a pretty cool sculpture of Augustus Caesar and a lot of busts of his family. There were also other busts of some other emperors, along with Gods and Godesses. My favorite one of this museum was the bronze sculpture of the boxer pugile. I liked this museum because it showcased a lot of bizarre sculpture including a hermaphrodite...and I realized thats where we get the name...the Gods Hermes and Aphrodite. Anyway, we also got to see a lot of amazingly detailed sarcophaguses! Also we saw a lot of items that were apart of every day Roman life, like jewelry, toys, coins, etc...it was really amazing to see that...the jewelry was so pretty I would wear it myself lol Oh, and we also saw a dead Roman body from the imperial era. It was a little girl and it was the creepiest thing I have ever seen on this trip so far. We went to this awesome level of the museum that is supposedly peices of the the walls from Augustus and Livy's home. Their dining room was huge and the walls were painted to look like they were in an exotic jungle...birds and trees were everywhere. We also got to see one or two of their bedrooms. Again, they were painted to look like they were somewhere else. Next we went to the baths of Diocletian and it was very pretty in there. There were no baths however lol..Im pretty sure there is nothing left of them. It basically looked like a HUGE church with all different altars everywhere. The marble columns were so gigantic, its hard to even fathom how anyone in present day could construct it. I also learned from my roommate yesterday that the ceiling in there has a hole at the top (like most churches we've seen) but there is no way to close it, and the floors are made out of spungy stone and it just soaks up the water when it rains. Crazy! Following that we went to the Epigraphy museum where we saw a lot of Roman and Greek inscription. It was interesting to see how they wrote in the stone and the materials they used to do so. So thats in a nut shell what we did thursday. I'm very excited to see all of the other parts when I go back. Rome is very pretty and different from the cities I'd been to thus far. There are palm trees everywhere and just really has its own little unique characteristics. Its a little bit more Americanized but still takes on the Italian city image. Its blazing hot there! It makes me thankful that our home base is Montepulciano because it is always breezy. Although we pretty much have decided our apartment is haunted no lie. Doors slam in here all the time even though we shut them and put rocks in front of them. We really think its haunted! It doesn't really bother me though if it is. Today me and my roommates and our friend Nick went to a little market thing that was being held up at the Piazza Grande of our town. It was cool to walk around and look at all the stuff...Lots of handmade things and really pretty jewelry. Then we went to eat lunch and I had pizza with hotdogs on it! It was pretty darn good I must say. I've also had pizza with french fries on it too. Oh I forgot! Yesterday we went to lunch and I have had the best pasta I've eaten so far! It was spaghetti with butter and garlic sauce and chile powder! YUM Mary had Gnochi con pomadora sauce (tomato sauce). Gnochi is kind of like a pasta dumpling. Its like a pasta ball kind of. Anyway, that was good too. David had pici with cheese and pepper which was also tasty. And of course we had some Bruschetta, which I could literally eat for every meal. The tomatoes here are just so good I think I could eat one like an apple. Their olive oil is so cheap here too! I just want to buy a whole case of it because in the states its ridiculously priced. Well thats all I can think of for now...does anyone want to know about something that I havent written about?
PS our apartment is really haunted something just moved in the kitchen.
Ciao!
OH PPS Harry Potter comes out here two days before it does in the US..hah! Suckas!

Augustus Caesar

Roma

The Boxer Pugile

Sarcophagus

Pretty view of Roma

Back to Florence!

Good evening USA, so yesterday we went back to Florence! I love that town so much! I also LOVED the museums that my group went to yesterday. First we went to the the Museo del Bargello....Bartolomeo Ammannati Scultore. Here we saw what looked like a lot of erotic sculpture and probably post classical era because there were a LOT of naked women. I believe that this is also where we saw the other famous David who is in bronze by Donatello. Next our group climbed the Duomo that was 400 and something steps, and I stayed behind with some of the professors wives because why would I throw my knee out so early in the trip lol. Its an amazing view up there and I wish I could have seen it for myself, but maybe next time! Next we went to this little cafeteria type place by the Duomo (by the way Duomo means dome) and I had a pretty amazing meal...Ravioli stuffed with spinach and cheese in a butter and herb sauce and a huge peice of bruschetta. Afterward we walked around in this open air market where I have never seen such cheap prices on jewelry and leather! It was awesome, so of course I got a view gifts =) The prices were amazing, but if you gave eye contact to anyone just strolling around trying to sell things they would follow you yelling out prices. That was not a fun part but Im really used to it now. Anyway, next we went to the Cappelle Medicee, the Church that was created for the Medici family and OMG was it amazing. Michelangelo did a lot of work in there and the entire inside of the actual church was marble. We also got to see some of Michelangelo's sketchings on the wall! Like we could literally walk up to it and touch it, some of it wasnt even covered. Also, we saw the place that Michelangelo supposedly hid out for a year because of a war. That church was so extravagent and beautiful! We also saw these crystal and gold um, I don't even want to try to guess what they are called, but basically its different popes bones and teeth and stuff. Its weird but apparently they were sacred and a way to get people to come visit your town. Oh and also in the Church, all of the towns that the Medici family conquered were on the walls and we found Montepulciano! Sooooooo next we went to my personal favorite, the Santa Croce Church. When you walk in here, it is a HUGE room with tombs everywhere! On the walls and in the floors! I know I'm a nerd for being so excited about this but you would be too if you saw the tombs of Gallileo, Michelangelo,Bartoloni, Dante (his actual body may have not been there, I can't remember), Machiavelli, and a TON of others. I had no idea all those guys were in there! And all over the floors there are outlines of where other bodies are buried right beneath us. It was literally dead body central. That was the last place of the day and it was a great one to end it. We still go to Florence one more time, but I think thats the last week. Tomorrow I head to Rome for the day! Hope everyone had a great Independence day, we had class and lasagna. Ciao!

 

Back at the Ranch

Whats up! So today we had what our advisors call an "Italian moment" and got a little lost in Florence...Not that its a bad city to get lost in, but we couldn't find out bus station to save our lives. We knew that it was in the Santa Maria Novella Square, but there are so many different bus stations there! No one was really helpful and I went off on a bunch of rude Italians today lol...well the good news is we found our bus and I am now sitting back in my apartment! I just Skyped Billy for about an hour and he called mom for me and put her on speaker so I could hear her and talk to her. It about made me choke up! Today we walked around Florence and I bought a few things. I would like for everyone to give me a cyber pat on the back because I haggled everything and got the price dropped on everything I bought ;) So anyway, here are the videos I promised...Gondale ride http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjOzyGHDeMM
and the taxi experience lol, there are no rules, people and cars share the road equally
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puNq3rfEwhw
Ciao!

Venezia! (Venice)

Ello govnas!

SO! We went to Venice today and it was pretty much the bees knees. I am sitting back in my little cafe in Florence at Hotel Ariston and still feel like I'm on a boat. I mean seriously the room is moving. But anyway, Venice is truly one of a kind and a must see if you are visiting Italy. It is the priciest city I have been to thus far, but hey when in Venice I guess. We got the first train this morning and arrived two hours later. We met up with our other friends who were staying closer to Venice and spent the day with them. We went shopping, ate lunch (I had spaghetti alla bolegnese sauce) and just walked around. Of course we got a gondale ride and I took a pretty cool video. Unfortunately our dude didnt have the cool hat and he didnt sing. But he did tell us some interesting facts about the city. He told us that in the small little canals it was only like 3-5 meters deep and in the grand canal only 20 meters deep. I guess when I think about it thats not too surprising but just kind of interesting to think about. Also the water rises and falls through out the day about six inches...he said because of the moon, I think it may be traffic lol. Literally everything is taken by boat so we just got a "bus" pass for the whole day and rode up and down the canal. We went to the Hard Rock Cafe and a buch of beautiful glass shops. A near by town, Murano, is know for its glass blowing and the streets were filled with the different glass items. I just thought about how many different people we have met since we have been here...I think we have met people from literally every livable continent...today some Australians were talking to us on the boat and were basically down playing Venice before we got there. LOL He said "Yeah this is nothing compared to the French Riviera, you young people need night life not old buildings." That cracked me up. What a silly man. Well im off to bed, going to spend the afternoon in Florence and then take the bus back to home base. In the morning Im posting a video of the gondale ride and also a video of a typical cab ride anywhere in Italy, lol. Ciao!

Field Trips and the first full week!

Ciao! Sorry I haven't posted in awhile but its been a long and tiring, but awesome week! Tuesday we went to the Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel, and St. Peters Basillica. It was AWESOME, I didnt even realize how much of the famous art I have been waiting to see was there.The line for the Vatican was probably a half mile long! But luckily we bought tickets and stood in a much much shorter line. First we went into the huge art gallery and saw everything from Byzantine art (Art from Byzantium which was considered the empire that carried on Roman tradition after the fall of Rome in the East) to tapestries of the last supper, also Rennaissance art, and my personal Favorite, the Rafaello rooms. These rooms used to be quarters of the pope many years ago, and Rafael painted all over them over periods of 3-5 years. This is where I saw the painting I was dying to see: School of Athens. This is the famous painting showcasing all of the famous philosophers of ancient Greece. I stood there in awe for a long time in that room. Afterward we went to the Sistine chapel, and again I couldn't believe my eyes. That ceiling is phenomenal! Its very interesting how they run the chapel...There are officials in there that are constantly clapping their hands as loud as they can to shut everyone up, and going "SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" every five seconds and "SILENCIO, NO PHOTO!!!" I snuck some pictures anyways. One of the guys Nick got caught and kicked out, but nothing happened to him and he got to just meet us outside. It has been the talk of the trip so far lol. Next we went to St. Peter's Basillica and saw the Pieta, it was  completely shut off by glass and just looked amazing. Afterward we got to walk around the square and I bought Billy and his mom a gift! I'm real excited to give them to them =) So that, in a nut shell was the Vatican and I'll attach some pictures at the bottom of what I think were great shots. Today, we took a bus to Florence (or in Italia, Firenze) and stopped off above the town to get a great group shot, I'll post one of me below from up there. We then walked a long walk to the Uffizi. The Uffizi was a city hall of sorts during Renaissance times where very important people worked. The Medici family was very invested in embelleshing the Uffizi with art and archetecture. Unfortunately there were no cameras allowed. I snuck one shot of the ceiling, but wished I could have taken so many more. We got to see the Birth of Venus, and one of the only movable Michelangelo paintings every made (because they were mostly on walls and ceilings) we also saw DaVinci! Next we walked alllllllll the way to the Academia to see THE DAVID. When I walked in the room I literally started getting giddy and giggly. I snuck photos in there too. I love love loved seeing the David and completely understand why the whole city of Florence idolizes him so much. SO many shops are called "David" something. Another thing about Florence is that it is so rich in its own unique culture. There are no high rises, no fast food, just old art and architecture everywhere. Its just beautiful. Tonight we got a hotel here and I'm sitting in the little cafe using the internet (not alone, with my roommates). And tonight we went to a little restaurant, had calzonis and cheesecake. It was yummy! Ok y'all gotta get up early for a train to Venice tomorrow so I'll post again soon. Ciao!
PS. I just tried to upload a few pictures of the past two field trips and its not letting me right now, but you can see them all on facebook.

First school day...

Buonasera everyone!!! Today was the first day of classes...so we woke up around 7 and went down to the cafe for a quick cappucinno and made it to class 45 minutes early lol. It was a long school day but I enjoyed the classes and felt like I already learned a lot. For my first class from 9-11:30 I am taking comparative world justice systems which focuses on comparing international legal/judicial systems with ours. We had a break and walked up to a pizzaria for lunch and split a HUGE salami pizza between five of us..I think I forgot to tell you that I have three roommates...but introduced them in the tour of my apartment video...Mary, Rachel, and Chelsea. David Mary's boyfriend hangs out with us too!  After our break we went back to class and that is when I go to history of Rome. It was packed full of information and I was intrigued but felt soooo tired after climbing the hill to lunch. After our class ended at 3:30 we had a group meeting held by the program director Dr. Harper (we call him Harps) and he was preparing us for our two field trips this week! We are going to the Vatican City tomorrow along with the Sistine Chapel and all that other good stuff. I am really excited to see THE statue of Octavian Caesar and everything in between! I finally got an SD card! Anyway, after class we walked down to the grocery store Conads and bought some snacks and things for lunches. Which is good because you can spend money real quick here. We then proceeded to go to a travel agency and asked about taking a train to Venice from Florence on Thursday (because that is where our feild trip is and we will be leaving for the weekend from there) and then they sent us down the hill again where we just came from to the train station. So we went to the train station and asked how much it would be and then she mentioned how expensive it was, so we decided that we would buy our train ticket after we figured out the hotel situation. So then, we go back to the travel agency, (back up the hill) and he quotes us these outrageous prices for Venice and the surrounding cities. Finally as soon as we walked outside we realized, hey why dont we just stay in Florence and go to Venice for a day? So FINALLY we made a plan, bought a hotel for two nights in Florence (thursday night and friday night) and decided to travel to Venice early friday morning and stay there all day. It was the biggest ordeal and then had to walk back down after we booked our hotel and get our train ticket then walk back up, but this time all the way up to our apartment only to realize we had an hour before dinner. HAHA it was a tad peeved by the time we got to the top because it was the biggest work out I have had in a long long time. I felt really amazing and accomplished by the time I got back though. I don't know why I shared that entire pointless story but I guess I needed to vent it out! haha, so YEAH! Im going to go to Venice! Its going to be so amazing to ride in a Gandola! Soooo back to today, tonight at dinner at the:

where we always eat, and started off with bread, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and parmesan cheese as usual. Then we had the BEST lasagna I have ever had, there was no ricotta cheese (which I do love) but it was just so yummy. Instead it was a different kind of yellow cheese. The meat was really well seasoned and it was just perfecto! So the "main" course was vhicken breast, french fries and salad, so I guess they decided to have an "American night" and give us something that we are used to. The fries were actually good! After dinner Mary, David and went up to the Piazza Grande and relaxed and caught the beautiful sunset. Im adding a link to show the video of the Piazza Grande. FYI, the Duomo is like the city hall and every Italian city has one. Ok going to bed, I have to get up at 6am for the bus! Heres the tour of the Piazza Grande! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxQXWRrueJo