Firenze Due

After fun tackling 828 steps, we sped to the other side of Florence to the Uffizi. In this museum we saw original DaVincis, Raphaels, and Boticellis. It is so amazing to see all the pictures you've been taught about your whole life in real life. Nonetheless, nothing really compared with David. This museum was near the river, and excitingly the bridge- Ponte Vecchio!!! This bridge pictured behind me is famous for two things: kissing and jewlery. It was quite unfortunate that I was 1, without Sam, and 2, without money. Oh well! I still enjoyed the window shopping, and Sarah and Olenka graced us with a mock kiss. I did end up buying a gold medal of Mary for my mom. The old Italian man who owned the shop was sooo cute and nice. We ended up chatting with him and his wife for about a half an hour, about everthything from Michigan Ave to Las Vegas. At the end of the conversation, they gave us a reccomendation for lunch. Oh my God! It was the best food that we have had in Italy yet- by far! We walked into this little Italian resurant that was filled with all Italians, fresh bread, wine, and desserts. It was cheap, the waiter helped us pick out our meals, and the five of us had wine, bread, pastas, steak, veal, salads, etc. for 10 euro a person!!!!!! It was probably one of my coolest experiences so far. After, we mad sure to stop for some gelato and we saw where Dante used to live. We witnessed a huge enviromental protest, and found a really fun market! By the end of the night, and I mean 8pm, we were completely exhausted. We grabbed 3 bottles of wine, some panini, and some cheap chocolate, and had a great time recounting our adventures and doing some girl talk in the hostel.
The next morning we again got up early, stopped at our cafe, and headed back with a detour in Pisa. Honestly, the only thing there is in Pisa is the tower, and after about 20 min of making fools of ourselves pretending to hold it up, and grabbing some "pizza in pisa" we headed back to Loyola. It was an amazing time!! Buona Sera!

Firenze

Okay, so I know that I claim that every new city I visit is my favorite- but Florence is my new favorite city!!! First, let me say props to Caitlin, Olenka, Sarah, Lindsay, and I for organizing and executing our first real trip! If I do say so myself it was quite a success! First we took our first train- very fancy, pictured here: We were all a little ragedy and tired leaving on Friday night, but we made it! We arrived around midnight, and not gonna lie, it was a little sketchy around Florence. It took us a while, and a couple of times asking directions to find it. Our friends had shared some horror stories about hostels, so we were a little frightened when we came across a very narrow cement staircase in an alley, but at the top was Hotel Sampoali- super cute, clean, and quite- with our own bathroom!
The next day we started out bright and early 8am- we wanted to beat the crowds and see absolutely everything! Our first stop was the Accademia which houses Michelangelo's David. I don't think I have ever been completely in awe in front of a piece of art before. I like a lot of paintings and sculptures, but usually, I see them in books and then when I see them in a museum I'm like, yeah- that's cool. But David was astonishing. Standing 14 ft high every part of him is perfect. Not only does he look completely real from veins to muscles, he looks like a perfect man. Yes, our group of five ladies def starred at his perfect butt for a good ten minutes. Unfortunately, picture taking of David was not allowed. Oh wait! I lied, that was not our first stop- come on, did you think we would have forgotten about food? Our hostel was right near Piazza San Marco, and more importantly Gran Cafe San Marco! Speaking of art, this shop had some of the most beautiful pastries I have ever seen! Plus, we are getting so good at being Italitan- we paid first then ordered, like good Italians do, and I munched my Apple tart and sipped my cappuccino at the bar- I mean, who sits down at a cafe in the morning, seriously?
After the Accademia, we ventured to the Duomo and Giotto's Tower. Let me back up again. Florence was the center of the Renaissance, you know: DaVinci, Michelangelo, Raphael etc. This is why it is such an amazingly rich city, although it is very small and nestled within the expanses of Tuscany. The Duomo was a church built in the middle ages. Yet, it was missing its dome- Boticelli added the dome during the Renaissance and it is the third largest in the world. I acutally liked this church much more than the Vatican. It is beautiful still, but because of architecture, carvings, and stained glass. There's not really gold, there's wood instead. I don't know, to me it felt more holy. I lit a candle there for my family and friends! Giotto's tower is a matching building, visible in the picture to the left. The appeal?- 414 steps that lead you to the most magnificent view of the city. Did we do it? C'mon! Of course we did! Seriously, my ass by the end of this semsester- rock solid. The view to say the least was incredible.

Tivoli





So today some friends and I took a day trip to Tivoli. This town in the Italian countryside was highly reccomended by one of our pofessoressas. Unfortunatley, she did not give us too good of directions. After riding the metro to the end of line A, we realized that we should have ridden to the end of line B... but life needs a little adventure :-) and 3 hrs after our start we arrived! The view from the top of this mountain is absolutely amazing! And with cobblestone streets, fountains, and such a view- romance was everywhere. Literally we saw quite a few too many couples making out.

First things first- we were starving, so we tracked down some infamous Tivoli pork! Being a vegetarian and all I can't really comment on it, but Caitlin was pretty damn excited.

After quickly dining we traveled to Villa D'Este. After being exiled from Rome, an ex-cardinal tore down a monastary and built this "pleasure palace" full of beautiful artwork (apparently reavealing of the cardinals "other interests" and elaborate gravity run fountains. I still don't understand how these work naturally, but they were absolutely beautiful.

Last on our list was FRASCATI! This wine from Tivoli is ranked #1 of Italy's wines in my tour book of Rome, and was supposedly called the “Gold Wine” by the ancient Romans, and was the favorite wine of Pope Gregorio XVI. Sooo... obviouslt we felt the need to give it a try, and in the land of it's origin. We found a very chic cafe which translates to "Be Cool" and ordered a few glasses. Also, Angela ordered true Italian hot chocolate of which we all sampled- it is seriously like drinking hot brownie batter in a glass! Anyways, the wine was quite good- even though I usually am not a white wine girl. It was a perfect culmination to a perfect day!

The Vatican

Today, Olenka and I committed an amazing feat! We got up and left at 7am to beat the crowd at the Vatican. We took a tour of the Museum and the Basilica. It is a collection of some of the most amazing artwork in the world. I got to see half of the pictures and pieces I’ve studied in school. Plus, we made an American friend who was staying with some priests. He gave us some interesting details and took pictures for us! Be sure to check out my picture gallery on this one!!

Lindsay's Birthday at the Drunken Ship

After a long day at the Vatican, and a well earned 3 hour nap, the last thing I wanted to do was head out again. But, it was Lindsay's birthday, and that called for a celebration. We headed out to Campo di Fiori, and the Drunken Ship: as you might be able to ascertain, the American bar. Iroically it seemed much more American than any American bar I've been too: porn on the tvs, and everything from journey to snoop dog on the radio. All americans and all american pricey drinks. It was ok, I like the Italian places better. Anyways, I did have my first long island iced tea. so that was pretty exciting. Buona Sera!

Petrofils!

After a long day at the Colosseum we were traveling back on our new friend: the 990 bus, when all the sudden… it stopped. Everyone was getting out of their cars, so we followed. There was a tiny smart car blocking all of traffic from like four adjoining streets. Lots of angry Italians were surrounding it- quite the event on Monte Mario. We weren’t sure at all of where we were going, but we figured we would go up J. Along the way we found a little pastry shop that we could not resist entering, and hear we found PETROFILS! OMG! Little pastry balls filled with frozen cream and covered in dark chocolate fudge and whipped cream…soooooooooooooo good. And we had to take a picture. Wine, petrofils, pizza, and Friends (the people and the show). An awesome evening!

Spanish Steps Pub Crawl Pics!


Crowd, Us and Australian Friends


Exotic Dancer, Creepy Italians and Caitlin, Friends!

Colosseum

Today we decided to go to the Colosseum for a proper tour. You really seem to forget what a horrible place it is. So many many people and animals were slaughtered there for people’s amusement. The structure itself is beautiful, but our tour guide says that people have referred to it as the most likely center of hell on earth.

Spanish Steps Pub Crawl!

Thursday was quite an exciting eveningJ. It seemed like it was time to try out one of Rome’s many pub crawls. On the advice of some full years we decided on the Spanish steps pub crawl, lead by Sam and his Hungarian wigged friend. Everyone gathered on the Spanish steps for an hour for as much beer and wine as they wanted- very very very bad quality wine and beer, but it did the job. Then we got to go to two pubs with a free shot at each, and finally a club. The first place was pretty cool, with two rooms reserved for us on the top floor- lots of dancing, we cannot get away from American rap anywhere we go- even Vatican souvenir shops. At the next place, we met two really cool girls (in this pic) from Australia. They taught as a drinking song: Aussie Aussie Aussie! Oi Oi Oi! Aussie! Oi! Aussie! Oi! Aussie!Aussie! Aussie!... it may sound weird, but with a bunch of drunk Australians, it’s a pretty good time. Sarah and I weren’t really sure about going to yet another place, but Caitlin convinced us to give it a try. There was a line outside so that seemed kind of interesting, and when we entered they made us take off our coats. Then we entered the main room. It was ENORMOUS! A huge dance club: go-go dancers with poles, a huge stage with girls and a dj, a plush vip section, and a huge dance floor. Soooo much fun! We danced until like 3 in the morning. There were lots of nicely dress Italian men who were much older than us. New lesson learned: Italian men are very very friendly. Gotta be on the lookout for that girls. But overall, it was quite a good night! Ciao!

More Fun in la Citta!

So we decided to be a little smarter this time out. Our new friends Sarah and Emily have been in Rome since last semester, and they kindly offered to show us around the town with out other friends Katie and Colin! Our first stop- Della Palma- the most amazing gelato ship of my life!!!! 100 flavors!!!! Seriously the chocolate was orgasmic! A consensus agreed upon by all the ladies present. Also available at this shop are Pope Suckers. Yes, those would be lollipops with pictures of JP II and Benedict on them. Quite exciting. On top of this, we made it to the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, and Piazza Navona. The fountain has to be one of my favorite sites in Rome. All of these places are just magnificent historical beauties hidden within the midst of the city. As you walk through stores and streets you will suddenly turn a corner and there’s another masterpiece. It’s hard to explain, but these places aren’t roped off or well marked, they just suddenly appear within the midst of a modern city. Finally, Sarah and I of course had to throw our coins into the fountain and make a wish. We felt much better about the city after such fun- Roma finally started to feel like our new home!

First Night Out

Our first night out in Italy was a little more challenging than we expected. We visited the Coliseum. At night it was beautifully lit, and more enormous than you can imagine. In addition, we stumbled upon some other beautiful places like the Vittore Emanuel monument. Even so, navigating the city without knowing what we were doing on public transportation or speaking Italian turned out to be a little difficult. We had a lot of trouble finding a taxi, which we now know is because you have to go to taxi stands and you can’t hail one. Good to know. Once we did get a cab, we had quite an experience. He was playing some sort of dramatic classical music that sounded like it belonged in a horror movie, and then raced around the curves up the mountain. It took all the gumption we had to not burst out in laughter. Plus, we think the guy was smirking as we slid from one end of the cab to the other. Quite an experience for our first night in Roma! Lesson learned: cabs are scary!

Pictures of Assisi

Assisi

Jet lagged as all hell, they packed up the 200 of us and shipped us off to Assisi. Yet again, what a good Jesuit thing to do, lol. Yet, in all actuality, I will admit that Assisi might be the most beautiful place I have ever seen in my life. I don't remember feeling such a sense of awe at seeing a place since I was 9 on my first trip to Disney World. Assisi sits on the top of a hill/mountain and the roads are so steep that the bus was allowed on them. So, we hiked up into the village, and hiked another good ways up to our hotel. Olenka and I found ourselves on the 5th floor, which again required some more walking (let's just say that by the end of this semester my calves and ass should be amazing). But when we reached our room, this was the view!
The retreat was good, filled with expected Jesuit insight about finding our paths in life. Excitingly, all the provided meals included wine. Oh, and may I just say before I forget that I am in love with Italy's obsession with coffee. We stopped at a gas station on our way to Assisi, and the cappuccino there was better than any I've ever had in the states. But back on topic, the professors guided us through some amazing places. I saw St. Francis' original church, the place where he is burried, the cross that spoke to him, the church where St. Clare is burried, and also clothes worn by them both, and St. Clare's hair. The place felt so sacred and special, it looked how I imagined the whole of Italy should look. We all sampled our frst true Italian gelato, and a group of girls and I (legally) purchased some wine and had an amazing girls night. The last day a large group of us decided to climb up to a castle: Rocca di Maggiore, at the top of the mountain. Luckily for us, we ran into three Italian young men who escorted us! (fyi none in of the streets anywhere in Italy run parallel). Otherwise, we probably would never have made it. Overall, if you ever go to Italy, make sure you make it to Assisi, especially if you were raised Catholic, because you wil understand all of the stories and legends behind this magical place. Cioa!

Campus

Not gonna lie- taking my first flight overseas alone was a little intimidating- I was pretty much scared out of my mind. Luckily though, after barely making my transfer in Atlanta I ran into Nick- yeah! So I was no longer alone, and not near as worried about getting from the airport to Loyola di Roma on my own. Nonetheless- I did not sleep at all on the flight. They did however show an episode of friends which really made my night, as well as the very intoxicated group of thirty-somethings next to me, who were planning their "wild time" trip in Rome. The woman next to me was an older grandma type who had obviously been a hippie and was listeng to hard rock and drinking bottles of liquer, but she gave me her brownie :-) which I was pretty excited about, not having pre-ordered a vegetarian meal.



Once at Ficiumono Airport, I met Sarah and Lindsay who soon became my good friends. Really, they had no choice. About 12 of us Loyolans found each other and decided to share some cabs- 12 people, 3 bags each, and 3 cabs- not exactly a good combination. So I got to know Sarah and Lindsay pretty well as I had to sit on their laps for the 40min drive with the crazy cab man who pretty much tried to kill us. Eventually however, we arrived at Loyola di Roma in Monte Mario. After being used to college in the city center, the scene was quite a suprise. An adorable convent on the top of a hill above rome, our campus is an old convent surrounded by olive trees, palm trees, and orange trees (yes real oranges! blood oranges to be specific, they really look like they're bleeding when you eat them- pretty cool). Leave it to Loyola to tuck us up away in a convent- nonetheless, it's pretty cool.