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STUDENT BLOG: KRISTEN THIES
| Nov. 30 | Nov. 23 | Nov. 19 | Nov. 2 | Oct. 23 | Oct. 19 | Oct. 16 | Oct. 10 | Sept. 28 | Sept. 21 | Sept. 7 |

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Sunday, November 30, 2008

Hello Rome! So this morning we had to get up at 4 a.m. Tara and I didn't get much sleep last night because we were up until 12:30 working on assignments, so we were pretty exhausted at the start of our journey. We drove on a double decker bus for four hours on our way to Rome. Our first stop was Vatican city. We had a three-hour guided tour of the Vatican Museum, the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica. My favorite part of the Sistine Chapel was seeing the spark of life where God was reaching out to give Adam his "sparkle," as our tour guide put it. We also saw the School of Athens painting and Perugino's Christ Handing Over the Keys. Saint Peter's Basilica was huge and gorgeous. Our tour guide told us, however, that it is no longer the largest church because there was just one recently built in Africa that tops its size!

For lunch, Tara and I thought it would be a good idea to head into a less touristy part of town. We overheard some girls mention that there was a place where you could get a primi, secondi, vegetables and drink for only 10 euro. I was pretty excited and envisioned that we would get to chose our entrees from a long list and it would be wonderful. When we got there, there wasn't anyone inside, and we shoud have taken that as a hint to keep walking, but we were starving and oddly set on this 10 euro fantasy. We sat down at a table in the back corner. After a few minutes the disgruntled waitress came over and asked us what we wanted to drink. She brought us water and soda and then walked away without any other comment. About five minutes passed and she still hadn't brought us any menu. We then asked her if we could order and she said "Sit and wait. You ordered the 10 euro special." Normally I am excited by the word special, but in this case, I felt slightly uneasy with the surprise element in our special meal. I knew that the food we were about to receive was going to be quite interesting. She then brought my plate out. A three sectioned, white plastic plate with collapsed lasagna, foul smelling spinach and some sort of fried chicken concoction. I never thought Italy would have TV dinners, but this was certainly a microwavable resemblance to the frozen convenience food of the states. I was disgusted, but my overwhelming hunger kept me from saying anything, with the hope that my sight and smell had simply been too quick to judge. 

Tara and I ate in silence. I tried the fried chicken first and soon realized that this was not fried chicken. There was some strange red meat and white cheese plopped on top of a thing layer of chicken nugget. The lasagna had fallen and the layer of cheese had separated from the other layers of pasta and cubed "I don't know what." I looked at Tara and I could tell that she was trying really hard to force down her 10 euro trash. This was the worst meal - a disappointment. To make up for this, we did what any Italian would do, we decided to get a medium sized gelato rather than piccolo. My cone of cookies and stracciatella certainly helped heal my scarred and angry stomach.

We then went to our hotel and Tara and I were assigned room 470 to ourselves! Yay! We took a quick 30 minute nap and then miraculously were able to pull ourselves out of bed. We were so tired!

We walked down Nationale which was a main street with lots of shops. The street began with a large roundabout with a fountain that looked very neat at night with all of the lights, very Roman. We went in lots of shops and then made our way to a Pizzaria that ended up being quite the find. We didn't want to sit in the front section because there was only one table left, so they put us in on of their most entertaining back rooms. The main light source was a black light and we were the only two seated in this large rectangular room. When Tara's pasta arrived, it came in the same large saute pan that it was cooked in. It was a huge black bowl with a large handle sticking out. It was just really funny. The bathroom in this restaurant was even more unique. It was down in their basement and hey had flowers and leaves hanging from the ceiling that made it feel like you were in some enchanted forest!

After dinner, we walked by the Colosseum, which is quite eerie at night. We also tried to find the ice bar, but had no luck. We then called it a night and got into pajamas, ate chocolate, talked about this crazy study abroad experience and listened to pretty piano music. I miss my piano and am excited to start playing when I get home. Tara pointed out that the last time it was just the two of us in a hotel was Hotel Rex, our very first night in Florence. That seems like so long ago and I feel like a completely different person. I am so proud of all that I have been able to make out of this experience. I had grown and learned more than I ever thought I would. I have come to truly love myself and am comfortable being exactly who I am. I am living for myself with no intention of aweing anyone but myself and God. It is very freeing and I feel more alive than I ever have in my life. 

Today is the last day of November and our last day in Rome! I can't believe tomorrow is December. That just seems so surreal and I am excited for these last few weeks in Florence (though not the homework), but I am also really excited to go home! 

Today was my favorite day in Rome. We had the outdoor walking tour of the Roman ruins and a Roman style lunch. We started on the Spanish steps, which are gorgeous! I love how they seem to wrap differently from different angles. It would be really fun to go here at night with some gelato and friends and just chat on the steps.

It then started raining and it was really funny to see everyone, one by one, pop up their umbrella. I love the shiny cobblestone in the rain and the contrast between the mediterranean colors of the Roman streets.

Next was the Trevi fountain. I threw in a coin, actually two for good measure, to hope that one day I will return to Rome! I love that Rome has so many fountains.

We walked down the street a little bit more, and there was the Pantheon. The oval part of the building was built first and then the Roman columns were added later by Bernini, who was also the same sculptor who designed the embracing columnade outside of St. Peters. We also learned that the Pantheon used to be covered in bronze, but then it was melted off and used to make the canopy over St. Peters tomb in the Basilica. 

We then saw the Arch of Constantine that Roman soldiers used to march through while carrying their victory trophies. Right next to the Arch was the Colosseum and we quickly made our way inside to imagine the gladiator and animal fights.

We got back on the bus and drove to a quaint restaurant where we had our Roman meal. We had an antipasti of fried vegetables, two primis (lasagna and tomato mushroom pasta), chicken and potatoes for the secondi, tiramisu for dessert, white wine  from Rome and as much bread as we could eat.

Our last quick stop was the catacombs, and I mean quick in every sense of the word. The guide gave a five minute speech about the Roman catacombs which stretch 11 miles underground and then gave us a 10 minute walking tour of a small section.

Ciao,
Kristen

The Colosseum.
I will come back to Rome! The Arc of Constantine.	Tara and the Pantheon. Tara and I after our tour of St. Peter's Basilica.

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Sunday, November 23, 2008

Ciao!

The turn around between Paris and Barcelona was far too quick. I was gone in Barcelona for three days, home for two and a half, and then we left for Paris for about five days. I am definitely ready for a break after this week of traveling.

This is my last trip outside of Italy, so I had to enjoy it while I could, and most importantly, I had to say goodbye to Ryanair. Oh Ryanair.

When we arrived in Pisa, there was a huge thunder and lightning storm. We looked at the flight board, and our flight to Paris was delayed. About an hour later, the Ryanair representative came over the loud speaker and said that the flight to Paris had been indefinitely delayed due to technical difficulties (the plane had been hit by lightning!). The whole room went into an uproar; she probably shouldn't have used the word "indefinitely."

The next three hours were a mixture of the Ryanair representative passing the most current information over the loud speaker in as many languages as possible. They were luckily able to get us a plane, but lightning had not been the only kink in our plan. The Beauvais airport that we were supposed to fly into closed at midnight, so now we had to fly into Lille, which is a city quite far from Paris.

When we arrived in Lille, they had luckily arranged two buses to take us into Paris. It was 1:30 in the morning and we were tired, freezing cold, and yet still laughing and shaking our heads at the whole situation.

The bus driver made us stand outside his bus for 30 minutes as he took his break for the day. What a nice guy.

We loaded up the bus, pushing and shoving and acting like we were cattle about to be slaughtered. The bus took three hours to get to Paris and I had a hard time sleeping because I was worried about how we were going to find our hotel. When the bus arrived in Paris, it pulled over into a random parking lot and just dropped us off. Everyone scattered into different directions, and I just kinda laughed and thought "great."

I wasn't exactly sure what to do next; the metros, conveniently, are not open at four in the morning. We saw two women walking towards the street and they seemed to know what they were doing, so we followed them.

We ended up walking to the front of a hotel with the intentions of finding a taxi. Just our luck, as we were walking up, we saw a taxi driving by and I quickly waved it down. Neither Marci nor I knew any French, so we just kinda pointed at the directions of our hotel and smiled. We asked the taxi driver how much it would cost, and he said that he didn't know. At that point, we had no other option but to trust that this taxi driver would get us to our hotel and not take all of our money. We arrived safely at our hotel and set our alarm to sleep for about four hours and then begin our marathon Paris days.

For the next five days, I would find myself in heaven every morning. We were greeted with "Bonjour Mademoiselle" and brought some of the best bread I have had in my life. Breakfast consisted of hot chocolate, orange juice, a warm croissant and a huge baguette. So basically, our breakfast was bread, and I couldn't be happier. At first, I had a hard time finishing both the croissant and the baguette, but by the last few days, I could finish both off like a pro. 

First off on our list of things to do for the day was to visit Paris' famous cemetery. We were greeted with a pathway of tall gorgeous trees with bright yellow leaves and large cobblestones that are much more difficult to walk on that in Florence. So of course, we decided to take our traditional jumping pictures. Little did we know that we would come to curse these jumping pictures as our feet were in throbbing pain for the five days following. Fantastic. We weaved our way through the large cemetery, seeking out the tombstones of Ingres, Delacroix, Seurat and my favorite, Oscar Wilde. 

We then jumped on the metro and made our way to the Notre Dame, which is by far my favorite church off all that I have seen throughout Europe. In order to better admire the Notre Dame, we stopped at a crepe place and grabbed warm, gooey nutella crepes to go. We sat on a bench in front of the church and pondered its magnificence :). As we entered the church, candles were lit everywhere and cast a beautiful glow on the columns. The other source of light was through the natural light seeping through the walls of stained glass that surrounded the church. Suddenly, the sounds of a choir filled the church. They were not anywhere to be seen, but their voices softly bounced and played amidst the church walls. It was exactly as I pictured Notre Dame, filled with flickering candles and soft soprano voices. 

We wandered around the city for a few hours and then went to my favorite museum in the whole world, the Museo d'Orsay! I love impressionism, and I was in heaven. They even had a full room dedicated to Degas, my favorite painter. The only sad part about this visit was that our feet were in so much pain, that it took great physical strength to push ourselves around the museum. The Orsay is wonderful and it was so refreshing to see some Impressionist work after months of Renaissance and Baroque!

We were exhausted after that museum, but we didn't want to call it quits quite yet. We went to a small shop and asked a lady where the closest movie theater was. It turned out that the Odeon wasn't too far, and when we got there, we discovered that The Duchess was playing in English, perfect! For dinner that night, I had popcorn and chocolate ice cream while watching a movie surrounded by French people. It was amazing. We even found the same parts funny, what d'ya know! We're not as different as we thought ;).

The next morning, we saw the Arc de Triomph, the Eiffel Tower (day and night), Napoleon's tomb at the Invalides, the Champs Elysees and the Louvre. The Eiffel Tower was gorgeous and I think it is even more magical at night. It has blue lights on it for the most of the evening and then for the first five minutes of every hour, it sparkles! When we were on the Arc de Triomph, we walked to the very top and could see the entire city! We met a very nice Australian man who took a picture of Marci and me in our matching outfits of blacks and blues. At the Louvre that night, we actually got in free! Every Friday evening from 6-9:30 p.m., students under 25 get in free! The Louvre houses some of the most beautiful sculpture I have ever seen. We saw the Winged Victory and Canova's Amour et Psyche and many many others. 

Saturday we went to Versailles. We purchased the audio guides and made our way around the beautiful palace. I loved seeing all of the bedrooms and the gardens. In a way, it reminded me of the white house because it had several rooms that were devoted to singular colors. We also were able to go out to Marie Antoinette's Hamlet! We got to see her room and her garden areas where she had an entire mini town reconstructed. There were even horses, bunnies, goats, cows, donkeys and swans! It looked like we had stepped into a real life storybook. For dinner, we picked a restaurant full of Christmas decorations on the Champs-Elysees. I had pasta with tomato and eggplant and then Marci and I shared the dessert that the man next to us had ordered: chocolate cake with vanilla, coffee and chocolate gelato topped with whipped cream. In the evening, we went back to the Eiffel Tower, and said our woeful goodbyes. It's crazy to think that I might not be back to see this city in over 10 years or more! Next time I come, it will be quite a different experience.

On Sunday morning, we enjoyed our last French bread and made our way to the Luxembourg Gardens, which we quickly found out was the perfect thing to do, because this is apparently what every Parisian person does on Sunday mornings. They go to the gardens with their friends and family to get some exercise and enjoy the afternoon. We couldn't believe how many people were running laps around the garden! Some people were even doing tai chi, breaking boards, stretching, playing tennis, etc. We even saw one adorable family tossing a football around (yes, an actual football, not a soccer ball). There were also lots of people sailing small boats on the pond in front of Luxembourg. After our stroll through the gardens, we went back to the Notre Dame and said another set of goodbyes. We also walked by the Pompidou Center and had fun window shopping since all of the shops were closed.

For tourists like us who were looking forward to shopping on Sunday afternoon, we weren't very happy that the only thing open were small cafes. But for the people who live in Paris, I'm glad that they actually do have a day of rest. I think that is very important, and I wish the U.S. followed this concept a little more closely. That day, we stumbled across Angelina's, which is a cafe with the best hot chocolate in the world. We bought a cup of hot chocolate to go and sat in the park surrounding the Louvre and watched the families enjoying their Sunday afternoon around the carousel. On our way out of the city, we ran in to two street performing bands!

Ciao,
Kristen

Notre Dame candlelight
Me in front of the Eiffel Tower Arc de Triomph	The Metro system that was a great lifesaver when our feet had given up. One of the gardens in the area surrounding Versailles.

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Sunday, November 2, 2008

Ciao!

We just returned from our one week fall break tour of the UK: London, Dublin and Edinburgh! We had a lot of nerves of both anxiousness and nervousness in the beginning, but we survived and had a wonderful time traveling and exploring these new countries.

I decided that the UK is my favorite place in the world. I think that when you really connect with a place, your heart swells and you know that this is the place that can make you come alive. The countryside was gorgeous with green and yellow and orange leaves, light grey sky and deep red brick buildings with white pointed scaffolding. I love England and also decided on that first train ride, that I have to come back and spend an extended period of my life here. Two and a half days are just not enough.

The Kensington Gardens, which is actually more like a park, was my favorite part of our London trip. We found a Starbucks on our way over to the park and I ordered a peppermint mocha and an apple spice muffin. The paths of the park were glistening and spotted with whimsical fall leaves. There were many people out exercising or walking with their children, lover, or in most cases, their small, spunky, yet still very british dogs. The park reminded me of Finding Neverland when Johnny Depp has a picnic with the young boys and dances with the friendly bear.

After dragging myself away from the park, we took the tube to Trafalger Square where I got my first glimpse of Big Ben! Oh, and I saw my first British flag flying there as well!

We then went into the National Gallery, for free might I add. We checked our coats, which I thought was very British. I spent the next two hours walking around the huge gallery by myself and admiring their amazing collections. My favorite sections were the 18-19th century paintings. I felt so blessed to be able to see some of the great works that I have studied for numerous years in my art history classes. I was able to see paintings by: Caillebotte, Gainsborough, Monet, Manet, da Vinci, Raphael, Carravaggio, Constable, Vermeer, Rembrandt, Degas, Goya, Hogarth, Seurat, Turner, etc.

We then made our way to Ireland and took a day trip to Wicklow to see some Irish countryside. I forgot my IPOD, which actually ended up in my favor because I listened to the Irish men as I looked out the window of the rolling countryside, vast skyscape and pebbled houses. Monday happened to be a bank holiday so many of the shops were closed. We walked up to a church on a hill and had an amazing view of the entire city. I walked in slowly, the church had a sweet candle burning. I sat down on one of the pews and sat in silence and prayed for a while. Sometimes I need to just sit and be still, let my heart catch up with my body and give God a chance to enter. When I make a conscious effort to give up my life to God, I fell more connected with my life, I feel happier and feel like I am truly living rather than running on reserve energy power.

We then walked up to some church ruins along the sea side. This was exactly what I pictured Ireland to be: green hills, icy water and cool winds. We were all wrapped in our scarfs and mittens and we all had the Irish flush cheeks and red noses. Hannah and I sat on a bench overlooking the seaside and ate our scones from the Irish bakery Queen of Tarts.

Our final destination was Edinburgh, Scotland. Scotland is such a magical city. As the plane was landing, we passed over castles, trees of deep green and orange and trickling hills. The houses also looked very peaceful and welcoming with architecture that reminded me of the east coast.

One morning we had breakfast at the Elephant House which is the cafe where J.K. Rowling wrote her ideas for her Harry Potter Books! The cafe was very quaint with smooth music playing in the background and view of a cemetery, colorful trees and dark brick castles. I could see her drawing her inspiration from the castles for Hogwarts and the trees for the forest surrounding the school. There was also a very dim, but enchanting weather that seemed to play a magical role in her books.

Edinburgh Castle is so beautiful! We went into the military museum where we saw armor, swords, medals, kilts, bagpipes, etc. It was neat to see real scottish outfits since my high school mascot was the Highlander. I was also able to see the crown jewels! We saw a crown, belt and necklace with diamonds.

The last morning we had tea and scones at a small scottish tea house called Clarinda's. I had jasmine tea and a fruit scone with jam and cream. We spent the rest of the day exploring some of the ruins and then just walking around the streets. It was a perfect, relaxing day and I loved walking around and enjoying the magical sights of Edinburgh before we headed back to our some-what reality, Italy.

Beautiful fall colors in the Kensington Gardens, one of my favorite places from our trip!
The view of the Edinburgh Castle and the National Gallery from the top of the Edinburgh monument.	Tara and Hannah in the Elephant House, the cafe where Harry Potter series were born!
Irish countryside in Wicklow.
The view of Parliament from the London Eye.

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Thursday, October 23, 2008

Ciao!

I've spent many of my blogs talking about all of the classes and traveling that I have been doing, but I think that studying abroad encompasses a lot more that just those. Yes, it is about seeing and doing and learning as much as you can, but it is also about living to your greatest extent. You have the opportunity to start making yourself into exactly the person you want to be and this can be both challenging and exhilarating.

You'll find yourself in an entirely new culture and lifestyle, surrounded by people that you have never met before. The only comforting and dependable thing is yourself and it is up to you bring yourself to this new country. To be brave enough to allow your own unique personality traits shine, and find comfort in being exactly who you are. If nothing more, this short, life-changing trip should leave you with a greater sense of confidence in who you are and greater love for living life through your own heart. 

Studying abroad has been quite different than I thought it would be. Italy is beautiful and amazing, but I never thought that I would have a bad day in such a wonderful country! I guess I had this idea that everyday would be fantastic, but there have been days where I have really missed home and days where nothing was going my way. Living in Italy has become a reality, not a dream, and I love it. I am living, and breathing, and laughing, and loving in a place that is not mine permanently - but for the time being, I can call it my home. 

I hope that when you go abroad, you will take every opportunity live a little bit fuller. Take traits from others and intertwine them with your own, pick up a new hobby, walk around the city by yourself, have a conversation in a different language, make new friends, and look at everyday through your own smile of your own heart.

With love,
Kristen

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Sunday, October 19, 2008

Ciao!

This past weekend, Tara and I went to Venice! We woke up at 4:45 on Saturday morning and arrived at the train station at what we thought was early, only to find that the train we wanted had already left! We had finally missed our first train! It was bound to happen and at least it was a weekend where we had the flexibility to move our travel day. The next day, we repeated our early morning ritual and thankfully were able to get on the 6:30 train to Venice! The first train took us one stop down to the next station where we had to catch the train to Bologna. We were a little worried about this train ticket because it had assigned seating, and we weren't sure if we could use it for a different day. Needless to say, we went anyway's and we were fine! We were so anxious about getting on the train that we jumped on without validating our tickets. So not only did we have a ticket for the wrong day, but we had no validation. Perfect. 

The train from Florence to Bologna was apparently a night train! We got on and all of the cabin doors were closed with people sprawled out on the seats. It was pretty creepy. Tara and I walked down about 3 cars until we finally found a cabin with two people who weren't sleeping. When the train arrived in Bologna, we jumped off and quickly tried to find the train to Venice. We looked at the huge board and saw that the Venice train was at bin 11 and was leaving in 10 minutes! We ran to the other side of the station, found bin 11, and there was no train and no waiting people. We had looked at the arrivals instead of the departures! Our train was actually leaving from bin 4, and as we looked over, we saw our train to Venice zip by. We laughed, our second missed train!

Needless to say, we were very excited once we got to Venice. We walked outside and there were hundreds of people navigating the narrow pathways along the water. This city is so magical and I instantly fell in love with the glistening water, smiling gondoliers and rows of colorful glass shops. We only had about 5 hours in this wonderful city, but that was long enough to know that this is one of my favorite cities and I must come back some time in my life!

On Wednesday, my friend Tricia and I had a museum day! We have decided that every Wednesday afternoon we are going to visit one of Florence's many monuments, museums or churches. We started this week with a smaller contemporary art museum and the Santa Maria Novella. The church was gorgeous and it was amazing to be in this church that I had studied numerous times in my art history courses! Next, we headed to our favorite bakery, grabbed a fragole tart and went to a park near the huge fort to have a relaxing rest of the evening. 

That night, Tara and I cooked for our roommates. We made lemon and artichoke risotto and bruschetta! In our cooking class, we had made saffron risotto, which was delicious, but we thought we would try something new. The risotto turned out pretty well, but it was a little crunchy because we didn't cook it long enough. We probably should have tried it before we served it to everyone, but oh well, live and learn. 

I am so glad that we are learning to cook while we are over here. One of my roommates, Katie, is an amazing cook and she is going to start giving us lessons each week! So not only will we have our Italian cooking class, but we will have our cooking with Katie that will expand beyond Italian food. I am very excited to be able to go back and cook something other than plain pasta and tomato sauce out of a can!

Goodbye for now!
Kristen

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Thursday, October 16, 2008

Ciao!

This weekend we spent two days in Milan and Lake Como. I've heard a lot of bad reviews of Milan, but I actually quite liked it! The train station was really neat, and yes, even though it did make me feel "small," I loved the architecture. We grabbed our tickets for Milan to Como, after we finally found a machine that would take cash, and then wandered around until we found the entrance for the underground metro. My "Let's Go Europe" book told us to take the M3 to the Duomo, so we bought our tickets and then hopped on! It was so exciting and I wish we had transportation like this in California!

As we walked up the stairs from the metro, the duomo was right in front of us! It is in a beautiful piazza with lots of different people and many flying pidgeons The gothic architecture and the stained glass on the inside was wonderful, especially when the light streamed through. I can see why so many churches have stained glass - it is a beautiful symbol of God's glory. Hannah and I sat on the benches in the central nave and soaked it all up. 

We then walked down in the Galleria Vittaro Emanuele that had many high fashion shops (of course) like Prada, Gucci and Louis Vitton. We then ate at Cafe Zucca, which is a famous cafe that people would go to after an evening at La Scala. We sat at a little table outside, drank the most delicious cafe latte that I have had yet, and watched the various models stroll by. 

After the wonderful afternoon of conversation over coffee, we headed towards La Scala! It was gorgeous! We walked into one of the boxes in the theater and gazed in awe. I got goosebumps and of course teared up again. The theater was lined with individual boxes and I could just imagine ladies in large, pouffy dresses sitting in front of their handsome dates who secretly whispered sweet nothings in their ear. 

Next, we took a train to Como. It was only 1 hour, so it went by very quickly! When we arrived, we weren't exactly sure where to go, so we just started walking in a direction that we figured was close to the water. We eventually found the ferry station at 6:30 pm and bought our tickets for the last ferry out at 7:10 pm. We were very close, I'm glad the train wasn't late! We then went to a small bakery and ordered some hot chocolate to take off the chill. 

When we got off the ferry, our hostel was only about a 5 minute walk from the dock. When we walked in, a friendly man in a stylish pair of overalls and tattoos up his arm checked us in. Our room had 3 sets of bunk beds and our own bathroom, which I think was pretty nice for our first hostel experience. 

The next day we went on a hike in the hills of Menaggio. We hiked to a church that we had actually seen the night before, the only building lit on the entire hill, so decided it would be fun to see what it looked like! The hike took us through beautiful tall, green trees and WWI trenches! When we finally reached the top, the view over Lake Como was gorgeous. We could even see the snow-covered Alps peeking through in the distance.

Four trains, two metros, two busses and three ferries later, we were home. I was very proud of our group. We had navigated ourselves through a place that we really knew nothing about! We had used the Italian that we were learning in our language classes and left the weekend with a greater sense of confidence.

Tuesday evening, our cooking professor arranged a huge Italian dinner for our class at one of his friend's restaurant. It was a true Italian-style dinner: three hours long with four courses.

We started off with a glass of white wine and warm, crispy bread. Our antipasti was composed of salmon, barley and shrimp, bresaola with ricotta and spinach and fried asparagus. The primi piatti was creamy risotto, which happened to be one of the dishes that we had made that morning in class! Next came the secondi piatti: sausage, potatoes, and my favorite, strips of steak with arugula and flakes of parmesan cheese. I had never eaten cheese with steak before, but now this is definitely going to be a staple.

Our stomachs had taken just as much as they possibly could, yet somehow, we all found a way to squeeze in some tiramisu and limoncello. Our dinner finished around midnight, stomachs full and hearts happy to be in Italy. 

The duomo in Milan. This gothic architecture is refreshing after all of the renaissance architecture in Florence!
Hannah in a WW1 trench that we passed on our hike in Menaggio.	This was the fashion street that we explored. The little cafe we sat at was right at the beginning of the archway on the left side. Beautiful Bellagio.
The view from our hostel! We could even see the Alps peeking through on the left!

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Friday, October 10, 2008

Ciao!

Saturday morning, Hannah, Marci and I woke up at 5:30 am to go catch the sunrise! We ran through the dark, empty streets of Florence and followed the scents of fresh bread preparing for morning shoppers. We found one bakery that had its doors cracked open slightly, but the sky was slowly getting lighter, so we decided that our bread could wait! We danced through our piazzas, skipped through the "lines" of the Uffizi and dashed across the Arno just fast enough catch the sun's glow reflecting on the still water. The sun was almost coming! We passed the large fortress on the right and then went up the never-ending staircase to the Piazza Michelangelo. The view was breathtaking and the monuments were still glowing from their evening lights. We spent the next hour reveling in our beautiful city and realizing how lucky we are to be living in FLORENCE! As we got our fill of picture taking and bird chasing, we decided to continue our adventure into the hills behind the piazza. And guess what we found....trees!!! We were very excited. Some were green, but some were changing into gorgeous shades of orange and yellow. I love fall!!

That night we went to the Florence vs. Genoa soccer game! The school had purchased tickets for us on the lower level of the stadium (so not in the sea of purple section, but still fun none-the-less). We were close enough that we could get up close and personal with our favorite players. In the very last 3 minutes of the game, Florence scored, beating Genoa 1-0. The crowd went crazy, people were jumping up and down and the stands were shaking. After the game, everyone rushed out of the stadium. We weaved in and out of people and racing vespas. It was mayhem, but I guess that is Italian soccer matches for you!

Sunday morning, we woke up bright and early once again, and went on a day trip with a tour to Cinque Terre! We hiked through the first 4 towns and then took a ferry to the last town. Cinque Terre is gorgeous! Each building and house in the towns are all painted different, vibrant colors. The sparkling blues of the water and the sky combined with the bright oranges, blues and pinks provide a gorgeous living rainbow that would drive any artist into a frenzy!

One of our tour guides closely resembled a cross between Harry Potter and Clark Kent while the other's name was Filippo and he provided us with his philosophy on life and italy. Filippo was such a strong influence on this trip, that I actually centered my first photography project for my Expanding Creativity class around some of the messages that he has left with me. He talked about the importance of family and how after his father died, he and his brother made a pact to stop surviving and start living. He also has a tattoo on his arm that is written in latin and encompasses many of the thoughts that he lives by. He believes that we are not warriors of shields and swords, but rather we are warriors everyday of our own inner fears. Fear is one of the greatest things that can keep us from truly jumping into life. 

On the train ride home, Filippo left us with something that shocked us all, actually. He came over and sat with us for a while, and just as he was about to leave, he turned and said that he could tell we were different. He said our souls radiate. That we aren't stupid or weird, but that we are Perfect. It's amazing how much you can learn about someone by just spending a few hours with them. I was flattered that he said we were perfect, but even more in awe that he had seen a little bit of our hearts that day. He was looking for something more than an outward appearance, he was looking to discover a real person. 

On Thursday after we had all finished our classes, we went on another adventure throughout the town! We had heard of a bakery called Sugar and Spice that has both American and Italian desserts, and feeling a little homesick, we decided to give in to our sweet tooth! I ordered a slice of carrot cake that was divine! We then walked over to the piazza in front of Santa Croce where they were having an international food festival! I love how Florence has so many small festivals and parades. If you are ever bored, you can just walk the streets and you are sure to find something interesting!

Ciao for now!
Kristen

The view of the vineyard in Chianti.
Maddie enjoying the wine tasting. Wine cellar at the Chianti Farm.	Beautiful colors of Cinque Terre. Some fun fishing boats on the waters of Cinque Terre.

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Sunday, September 28, 2008

Ciao!

Cortona is by far my favorite Tuscan city! We took an hour and a half train ride to the bottom of the city and then we had to find a way to get a bus ticket to the top. 

Cortona is on a hillside that overlooks valleys of green trees. The buildings are about 4 stories high and the streets are full of enticing little alleyways. These are not alleys like you see in a city, they are cobblestone pathways that twist and turn and are perfect for exploring. We found one pathway that went right by a bakery and it smelled delicious!

We then walked through the town and went into a small leather shop where they had beautiful handbags. We started talking with the owner and it just so happens that she studied abroad in Italy when she was our age! She is British and during her first week of studying abroad, she met an Italian man and now they've been married for quite some time! How awesome is that! She also gave us directions to the best bakery in town called Cocoa. That's right, chocolate. I probably don't need to say this, but as soon as we left the leather shop, we headed strait there. 

Cocoa is amazing! We all picked a tray full of little desserts and ordered the best hot chocolate. It was really thick and tasted like we were drinking melted chocolate. Ahh, we were in heaven!

We spent the rest of the day exploring. We picked some grapes from a vine and continued walking around with stained purple hands :) The grapes were delicious and tasted exactly like Welches grape juice!

The trees and leaves in this city were beautiful! The brown leaves that were starting to line the streets led us up a very steep hill and at the top we found, of course, a church. 

This city was simply wonderful. I actually liked not having to rush around or do any tourist activities. We just took in the lifestyle and beauty and were just content. It was a very calming and refreshing way to start our week.

In cooking this week, we learned how to make homemade pasta!!  We made ricotta and spinach ravioli and served it with balsamic. We also made Pasta Norma, carbonara pasta and an apple pie!! Pasta Norma was delicious with fresh tomatoes, onions, eggplant and garlic. Carbonara pasta was pretty good too, but i've decided that I really don't like bacon so I think next time I will make it without. The apple pie was also really easy. We just placed pie crust in the pan, put in sliced apples and a lot of sugar and then put it in the oven! Simple and delicious!

On Friday, the school organized a free trip for wine tasting in Chianti! They had three or four large charter buses that drove us to the Italian castle and then arranged for a tour and wine tasting. The grounds were gorgeous. There was a huge tree that was over 300 years old, a large wine cellar with large wooden barrels and a large fortress that had been added for protection during the war. The tour guide told us about the four different kinds of wine that we were going to sample. She encouraged us to try to pick out the different berries in the white wine and compare it to the smokey taste of the red wine. They also paired each of the four wines with food that complemented the flavor.

I am very impressed with the amount of student activities that the school provides. They have many different clubs such as slow drink club, dance club, photography club, music club, etc. They also have planned many free trips such as the wine tasting that we just went on, but also Florentine soccer games (which we have tomorrow night!), and ballet and opera concerts. It's a great way to keep us involved, meet other study abroad students, and get to know more about Florence and the Italian lifestyle!

That's about it for now!

Ciao!
Kristen

The gang posing in front of a beautiful Cortona building.
The red grapes we picked in Cortona were delicious! They were really sweet and tasted exactly like Welches grape juice.	We were recommended this chocolate bakery called Cocoa by one of the locals. We bought a few chocolate pastries and some hot chocolate. It was divine and we plan on returning during the christmas season for some snow and cocoa. The beautiful tuscan town of Cortona.
The gorgeous view of Florence from the Piazzale Michelangelo just as the sun was rising.

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Sunday, September 21, 2008

Ciao!

This weekend was a travel extravaganza! On Friday, my roommates and I took a bus up to Siena, which is a beautiful town in the tuscan region. The city was more quaint than Florence, and it was nice to be able to meander through the streets without having to dodge masses of tourists. For lunch, we treated ourselves to a nicer restaurant where I had some of the best Italian food to date. I ordered tomato and olive pasta with bread crumbs. This kind of food that I am going to miss when I return home!

The rest of the day was spent exploring the Duomo, Baptistry, Museo de' Opera and getting caught in a rain/hail storm!  We climbed a tall, narrow, windy staircase to an amazing lookout point onto the city. We were so high up that our hair was standing on end from the electricity in the sky! Probably not the wisest idea to be on top of a tall building during a hail storm, but, we survived with really cool pictures.

Saturday morning we left at 5:30 a.m., not-so bright and early, and embarked on a five hour bus ride to Pompeii. In between sleeping, I snuck peaks of the warm tuscan sun streaming through the foggy hillsides. Everyone else on the bus was sound asleep and I felt like that morning was my little treasure. 

First on our itinerary was a three hour walking tour of Pompeii. It is huge and very eerie to think how quickly nature wiped out this entire city. We saw a few molds of the people and their positions and expressions of horror gave me goosebumps. One little boy sat with his knees close to his chest and his hand on his head, praying that he would make it through. I try to imagine the fear that these people felt when the threatening cloud came plummeting in, and I just tear up. 

Our next stop was Sorrento, a beautiful beach side city. I was so excited when I saw the water! Huge bodies of water are so comforting and remind me of home! 

The school paid for our very first three course Italian dinner. Many formal Italian dinners have more courses than three, but compared to the pasta we make for ourselves at home, this was luxury! I sampled some nice red wine and ordered a mixed salad for my antipasti, beef dish as my secondi piatti, and chocolate cake for dessert! After dinner, our entire group of about 50 people walked downtown to sample limoncello, the lemon alcoholic drink that Sorrento is known for! We took our samples of limoncello and our shocked and squirmy faces afterwards were hilarious. Limoncello wasn't our favorite, but it was nice to try it. We enjoyed the white chocolate covered almonds, lemon cookies, and biscotti much more. 

Capri is one of the most beautiful places in the world. We spent hours getting lost in the city and exploring its many passageways and breathtaking views. We then met up with our two professors and they took us to their favorite restaurant. My friend Tara and I split a gnocci dish with tomato sauce and we spent the meal talking with Luca and Marco (our professors) about Italy! 

We had about one hour left and my roommates and I decided that we could make it down the 20 minute hike to the beach and back to the ferry in plenty of time (eek).  When we finally made it to the pebbly beach, it had started raining pretty hard. We spent about 5 minutes in the water and then we had to begin our hike back up the windy hill. The rain was pounding so hard and we were all completely drenched and completely in love with Capri! It was glorious and one of the coolest things I have ever done in my life. God taught me something that day: don't EVER let an opportunity pass you by. Be spontaneous, live adventurously and don't be afraid to get a little wet and dirty. 

This was week two of classes. My cooking class was based around the antipasti. We made bruschetta and crostini with different kinds of meats and cheeses. I absolutely loved the bruschetta and the crostini with mozzarella cheese and olive oil. Tara and I made some for our roommates later in the week and everyone loved it! 

I also tried a new gelato place, called Perche No! I grabbed a cone and then spent some time gazing at the Arno. It is so nice to be able to just go and relax and take in the beauty without having to be constantly behind a lens. That is one thing that my photography teacher told us. He said that it is healthy to go some places without your camera. To just enjoy a place and really get to know it and then go back and photograph it. I know I will be returning MANY times to the Ponte Vecchio. I love it so much. 

This week was also the kick off of the dance club! We had latin american dance on Tuesday and belly dance on Wednesday! I love latin dance and I am very excited for latin night next week where our school has been invited to a club for some salsa dancing!

I hope you all are getting exciting about studying abroad! I am absolutely loving it!

I love Siena! We found a beautiful look out spot where we could see the entire city and rolling hills of the tuscan countryside.
Wandering the paths of Capri with our waffle-cone gelato.	Tara and I on our tour around the island of Capri. The water was so blue and wonderful! The sky and water in Capri looked like a beautiful painting.
Family picture as everyone takes a quick break from traveling.

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Sunday, September 7, 2008

Buon Giorno!

My name is Kristen Thies and I am blogging to you from Florence, Italy! I have been here for about a week now and my roommates and I have been spending these past few days exploring Florence, getting settled into our apartment and adjusting to a new culture. It still seems so surreal that I am in Italy and I often find myself forgetting that I truly am in a different country. Yet, every time I step out onto the narrow cobblestone path, veer out of the way of a racing vespa and hear the melody of the surrounding "ciaos" and "buon giornos," I am warmly reminded that this renaissance city is not a dream. 

I am living in a three bedroom apartment on Via Faenza with roommates from all over the states. We are all unique in our own ways, but we get along wonderfully and have been spending a lot of time together. Our first evening, we celebrated Hannah's birthday by getting slices pizza at a pizzeria and hanging out on the steps of the duomo. We felt like true Italians, soaking up the surrounding art and sounds of the city as the sun said its goodnight. I think this is one of the greatest benefits of studying abroad, you have the time to remove your tourist hat and actually take in and learn from the culture. 

Yesterday, my roommates and I went on an adventure up to Fiesole. It was our first experience with the Italian bus system and besides having to run to catch the first bus and the small problem with one of us validating our ticket the wrong way, I think we did pretty well! We picked up a map of the city and went on our own little walking tour. We found one spot with a breathtaking view of Florence and the tuscany region and spent a lot of time taking pictures! We then spent the last 2 hours venturing through a church, monastery, cemetery and admiring the gardens and rolling hills. We topped our trip off with a refreshing cup of gelato and then headed home with very tired feet. 

Classes will be starting tomorrow and I am very excited to get some structure into my schedule and learn more about Florence! I am taking Beginning Italian, Travel Photojournalism, Current Trend in Italian Cuisine, Ballet, and one more art class (either Expanding Creativity or Leonardo da Vinci: The Renaissance Genius at Work). I will definitely be giving you more updates about my classes as the weeks go by!

That's about it for now! We're getting ready to go out for a small shopping trip and then heading to watch the evening lantern processional by Santa Croce!

Please feel free to send me any questions you might have and I'd be happy to answer them!

Ciao,
Kristen

This is a picture of Hannah and I next to the Arno river!	Tara and Hannah admiring the Ponte Vecchio.
Three roommates making the initial hike up on our walking tour of Fiesole	Hannah in front of the gorgous view of Florence. Can you see the duomo?!! Marci, my roommate, and Tara posing in front of a cute Italian car.

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