Athena Blogs

The beautiful chirstmas tree in front of the Duomo!

Wow! I cannot believe in just 48 hours, I will be back in America! This past week has been full of my friends and I saying "Oo! We have to go to that place one last time!" and "Shoot, we haven't been to that museum yet!", as well as, of course, "Um…we should probably go to the library and study for finals".

We all are feeling that sense of the clock ticking. Many of my friends are ready to go home--they miss their families and America. While I miss my family and friends, I can't help but think about what I could do with a couple more weeks (or…years?) in Europe. There are so many places I now know I have to visit, or visit again, and I view my time abroad as a jumping off point.

My advisor told me before left for Italy, that once a person travels, they are "bitten by a bug", and feel compelled to travel for the rest of their lives. I truly believe that today. After having such a positive experience here in Italy, I find myself planning my next trip!

I would enthusiastically encourage any college student to study abroad. It doesn't matter where, or for how long--just to do it.  There is so much of this world begging to be explored--so go, and experience la dolce vita!

The holiday fair outside Santa Croce

My roommate and I at the opera!

Making fresh pasta with Kirsten

Busy busy busy week! The past couple days have been full of presentations, reading assignments, and research paper submissions. I scrambled all week to get everything done--but I finally did! On Wednesday I presented my research paper for Art History.

I had done it on a work called The Ecstasy of St. Teresa, by Gianlorenzo Bernini. Last week in Rome, I dragged my sister and friend to go see it in real life! Seeing it right in front of me, after studying and researching it for weeks, was so special. I used the pictures I took last weekend in my power point! Not many art history students in America can say that!

This weekend, my friend from college, who is studying in Granada, Spain, came to visit me in Florence! It was so nice to see a familiar face from Mary Washington, and we had so much fun! She came with two of her friends, so I spent the weekend being their tour guide! One night we made fresh pasta and pesto--it was hard work but tasted SO good! I can't believe I only have thirteen more days here--I'm not NOT ready to leave yet! This semester has been so amazing. I never prepared myself for the end of it!

The view from their hostel!

The Ecstasy of St. Teresa

 

Nicole and I in front of the Trevi fountain

As my sister's graduation present, my parents flew her to Florence to spend nine days with me! Charlotte got in last Friday, and on Saturday we boarded the 4:25am train to Verona. I didn't know much about it, except it was where Romeo and Juliet too place. We both love that play, so we figured it would be cool to check it out! After getting a little lost on the walk from the train station to our hostel, we finally settled down, took a power nap, and set out to explore the city.

Verona is beautiful, but unfortunately it was rainy and cold the two days we were there. That did not dampen our spirits--we still saw a lot of the sights! My favorite thing we went to was the Roman amphitheatre. It was amazing to think about how many people, though so many centuries, has sat in the exact spot I sat in. The unknown history blows my mind.

The next afternoon, we took a quick train to Venice--the city of lovers! As is normal in Italy in November, it was raining QUITE hard for the first day we got there. We walked around, got thoroughly soaked, and went back to the hostel early. The room we stayed in had a person from Australia, New Zealand, England, and South Korea. We spent the night talking with them--I love hostels because they allow you to make so many friends (even if you are only friends for 24 hours!).

The next day, the weather was absolutely BEAUTIFUL. Charlotte and I walked around for most of the day, window-shopping and taking pictures. Because of the rain and the high tide, most of the streets were flooded! We had to walk on portable runways to stay dry. It was so cool to see Venetians walking right through the water with their thigh-high rain boots!

We took the fast train back to Florence that night. Over the next few days, I (unfortunately) had class, so Char just walked around and went to museums while I had to be at school. I had a blast showing her all my favorite places, and she really loved Florence. Most mornings we would walk to the café right near my apartment and drink cappucinos and write post cards!

On Thursday (Thanksgiving!) we took a train to Rome. The first day, we went to the Coliseum. It was so amazing that the structure I had seen in books my entire life was right in front of me! That night we went back to the hostel to have free Thanksgiving dinner! The owner of the hostel was American (his wife was Italian), and his baby daughter was there celebrating her first Thanksgiving! It was a very nice Thanksgiving away from home! The next couple days we walked and walked and WALKED! My friend Nicole came to join us, and we literally hit every big tourist spot in Rome. I figured it would be a good first trip, so next time I'm there I can focus on the less touristy stuff! All we did was bop around from the Pantheon, to the Spanish Steps, to the Roman Forum etc etc, and stumble into beautiful churches.

On Sunday, it was time for Charlotte to go home, and she took the train to the Rome Airport. Since it was the last Sunday of the month, Nicole and I went to the Vatican Museum for FREE!! The art inside was stunning, and the sheer size of the museum was astonishing! After we had museum-ed ourselves out, we hopped on a train back to Florence. What a great week!!

Flooded St. Marc's square 


Having fun despite the water! 


The coliseum...woah.

At the soccer game!

These past two weeks have been school school school! Since I am in three geography classes and an art history class, each requires one big research paper. The deadlines for the papers are coming up, so I have been working my butt off in the library trying to get them done. My sister is coming to visit in a few days, so I don't want to have to worry about papers while she is here!

This weekend I hung around Florence. Sometimes it's nice to have a relaxing weekend without having to worry about transportation and sleeping arrangements and all of that. On Saturday night, a couple of my friends and I went to a Florentina soccer game! Soccer is HUGE in Italy, and Florentines have a lot of pride in their team. Florence ended up winning 1-0, and it was great to celebrate with the locals--jumping up and down, high-fiving, and screaming things you don't know the meaning of!

On Sunday, my friends and I went to Piazza Michelangelo (an area set in the hills that overlooks downtown Florence). It was absolutely beautiful! Then, we ate dinner at GustaPizza--my personal favorite pizza place! It's a tiny, unassuming restaurant with about 6 different options of pizza. A hint to all travelers: you know you've stumbled into some place good when everyone around you is a local!

View from Piazza Michelangelo

Mint tea on the roof of a indigionous moroccan family's home...is this real life?

Just a few short days after fall break, it was off to AFRICA! My friends and I planned a trip to Marrakesh, Morocco with a travel group. We figured it would be better if we went with a group on our first trip outside of Europe—and our parents were happy for it! We all had a GREAT time!! I think it is my favorite weekend to date—and it’s up against some pretty stiff competition.

My long weekend in Morocco was jam packed with activities that helped me gain a real sense of the Moroccan culture. We had three local guides, Hannan, Abdul, and Simo. They were awesome and SO funny — and our age, so we could really relate to them. It was so nice to talk to them about their life and culture, and realize how similar we all really are. That weekend I learned so much about the religion of Islam and the customs of Muslim people! We were able to see the inside of a traditional Moroccan home—a small house made out of stones and mud—with a cow mooing right at the doorway of the kitchen! It was amazing to see people living happily without any of the “necessities” we feel are indispensable in our lives.

One day, we climbed up to foothills of the Atlas Mountains, to a beautiful waterfall. Simo and Abdul picked up my friend and pretended to throw her in! It was so funny, and of course I got pictures! After we hiked down, we are tagine (a traditional Moroccan dish) and drank mint tea. It is a custom to serve tea to every visitor that enters your home, restaurant, or store—so believe me, I drank A LOT of tea this weekend!

We were all so sad to leave--I could have spent so much longer there! But, studying abroad has shown me all the places I need to go back and visit. I feel like this experience is showing me how much more is out there—and leaving me with the insatiable appetite for travel. Going back to school in America is going to be weird—I certainly can’t grab a cheap plane ticket to a different continent for a weekend!

Camel ride

Monkeys in the market!

 

Being mature in the Boboli gardens in Florence

Whew—so much to report! First we can start off with midterms week. All of my midterms were challenging, but I think I studied enough to do well! Studying for Art History was rough…I made a timeline of all the works, dates, artists, and descriptions, and it was 11 pages long! Yikes. Even though that class requires so much studying, it is still my favorite class. I never liked going to museums or appreciated art, but since taking this class, I've realized I haven't liked it because I just don't know anything about it. Going to museums around Florence has become a lot more fun since taking this class!

For my fall break, my parents came to visit. My friends all went to London, Dublin, and Paris for the week—and had so much fun! It was my parent's 25th wedding anniversary, and they had their honeymoon in Italy, so visiting me was perfect timing! I was really excited to see them…and for my mom to bring me peanut butter!! It is about 5 euro (around $6.75) for a small jar in Italy—it seems like Italians just stick to Nutella! Anyway, we spent a few days in Florence, going to museums and eating DELICIOUS food, then drove into Tuscany.

Our first stop was Montepulciano, a picturesque town about two hours outside Florence. We stayed in a hotel with an amazing panoramic of the vineyards and rolling hills of Tuscany. We spent the day wandering around the windy, steep streets—with almost no tourists around us. This was a welcome change from Florence, with tourist season just starting to fade. The next day we drove to Montalcino, another tiny Tuscany town dating back to the 9th century. Right outside the town center was a fortress, used in the 14th century to keep out invaders. My dad and I climbed to the top and got some pretty amazing pictures. After Montalcino, we drove about 45 minutes to Sienna, ate lunch in their main square, and window shopped. We then drove back to Florence and spent a couple more days seeing the city. One morning we climbed to the top of the Duomo—a more than 400 stair climb! It was really great to see my parents, and we had so much fun together! Being one of three, it was nice to be an only child for a week!

Beautiful Tuscany

The fortress of Montecino

Weeks keep flying by! This Tuesday, my friends and I went to see Eat, Pray, Love (or, Mangia Prega Ama) in a beautiful old Italian theatre. After, we all went out to gelato (a very common way we end our nights)!

This weekend, we ventured to Perugia to go to the Eurochocolate Festival!

my friends Leigh and Nicole...and
a giant chocolate ravioli man..?

We paid 5 euro to get a card that got us samples at a lot of the stands. A couple of my friends got Lindt chocolate balls the size of a small child's head. We also all tried chocolate ravioli with strawberry sauce—heavenly.

After we got back from that delicious day, we all started studying for midterms, which are next week. My roommates and I am enacted a "study cave" in our living room. Four of my classes have only essay-based questions, I'll let you know how they go, and if my hand survives! Hopefully it will, because right after midterms is FALL BREAK!

My friends and their Lindt chocolate!

actual chocolate ravioli

 

View from our hostel balcony

One day this week my Environmental Issues class went to the Florence Water Purification Center. It was really interesting to see how the (rather green) water of the Arno river turns into the clean tap water I drink every day! Later that day, my friends and I went on a quest to find "Vivoli—the best gelato in Florence". My club advisor told me "once you eat their chocolate gelato, you can die happy". And let me tell you, I can die happy! Their gelato was AMAZING. My friends and I seriously considered getting right back in line after we finished out cones!

This week went by super fast, and before I knew it, it was 3:30am on Friday morning and my friends and I were standing outside the train station waiting to begin our journey to Barcelona, Spain! After a bus ride, a plane ride, and another bus ride, we were finally in Barcelona.

After checking into our hostel, we set off on a quest to find authentic Spanish food: paella, tapas, and sangria. After wandering for about 30 minutes, we found a little restaurant tucked off the main strip. Everyone inside was speaking Catalan (Barcelona's native language), so we figured that was a good thing! And LET me tell you, it was! We ate like kings, all for about 9 euro per person. After that, we set off to see some of the sights—the Sagrada Família Church, the Santa Maria Del Mar Basilica, and Las Ramblas. Las Ramblas is a street flanked with venders and street performers. It was great to walk around and experience the rich culture.

The next day we went to Park Güell, which was a park on a hill with beautiful mosaics and panoramic views of the city. After that, we went to the much-anticipated Magic Fountain at Montjuic. Apparently, there is an amazing light show every night, but, as we learned from a little German boy, the fountain had been drained for maintenance. My friends and I were bummed, but we decided to find it recorded on Youtube and pretend we were back in Barcelona! That night we went to a nighclub that was five stories high—with the capacity to hold over 5,000 people! Needless to say, it was a pretty crazy night.

The last day we were there we just walked around, getting purposefully lost in the quaint side streets. My friends and I decided if we weren't all married by the age of forty—we were going to buy an apartment in Barcelona and live together! Our trip to Barcelona was wonderful…and I'm not going to lie…once we got to Florence, I looked up flights back to Spain!

A street performer at Park Guell

Posing with an iguana mosaic woman...haha

Beautiful Tuscany

As I write this, I am munching on Swiss chocolate my friend brought me back from her trip to Switzerland….ahh, life is good today. This week has been pretty calm—not too much reading for my classes and a nice relaxing weekend! This week, I went to visit Santa Croche (a beautiful church on top of a hill overlooking Florence) as a field trip with my Art History class. It still amazes me that a lot of the art I've learned about in class I have actually seen in real life!

On Wednesday, I had my first meeting of Tasting Tuscany. It meets a couple times a month, and we learn (and taste!) an assortment of local wines. It is really fun, and I've met a lot of cool people.

On Saturday, two of my roommates and I took a 7 euro train to Cortona, a sleepy little town on the top of a hill with a breathtaking panoramic view. Once we got there, we ate at a little restaurant, and I had the best gnocchi of my life—yum! After that, we went to Museo Diocesano, a museum with beautiful Catholic artwork and statues. I am not religious, but in taking art history and being in a city so influenced by the catholic church, I am realizing how interesting this part of history is! After getting (surprisingly) bad gelato, we moseyed on over to the train station. We ended up missing the train by about 2 minutes, so had to wait for another hour on the platform. My friends and I were really tired and goofy by this point, so we had a blast killing time as we waited for the next train. On the ride home, we watched the sun go down over the hills of Tuscany. I never want to leave this place!!

The little downtown

Cat napping in Cortona

 

My roommates about to enter the Blue Caves in Capri

A word of advice to anyone thinking of studying abroad: STUDY ABROAD. I am having the time of my life here. Multiple times a day I stop and think…how did I ever get THIS lucky?!

Two weekends ago, I went on LdM's trip to Pompeii and Capri. Pompeii was incredibly interesting. It was mind blowing to think about how old everything was. The next day, we took a boat to Capri, a picturesque little island off the coast of Italy. The first thing we did was enter The Blue Caves through a tiny opening in the side of the island. Inside, the sun from outside the cave reflects off the white stone of the ocean floor, invading the cave with an effervescent blue glow. SO PRETTY. After the boat tour was over, we went into the town of Capri, and I had the best gelato I have had thus far—in a cone that was so fresh it was still warm. This, again, was another time I asked myself, HOW did I get this lucky? The rest of the day my friends and I just walked around the town and swam at the beach.

During the next week, my friends and I bought a Friends of the Uffizi pass—for 40 euro, students can get unlimited access to all of Florence's museums! It's a great deal, since some of the museums can be up to 9 euro just for one visit. This past weekend, my four friends and I made the trek up to Munich, Germany for Oktoberfest. On the first day, we took a bike tour of downtown Munich, and since our tour guide liked us it lasted five hours instead of two! It was great to see the city—Munich is so beautiful and full of history.

The next day we went to Oktoberfest. It was opening day, so we got to see the parade and "the tapping of the keg". All I can say is, Oktoberfest was certainly a once in a lifetime experience. The next day, we went to Dachau, one of the first concentration camps in Germany. It was truly chilling to think that a very short time ago, people thought that the systematic extermination of a group of people was okay. Freaky. Coming back to reality (aka school) was tough after such an amazing and eye-opening weekend.

A cheery sight on a rainy Florence day

She could carry five 1 liter beer mugs in each hand! 
Impressive!