I haven't blogged in forever. Probably because I haven't had free time until now. I think I left off on Monday March 8th. Tuesday I had normal classes and then at 6pm I had to go to a conference at IES about Migrations today in Italy and entering the US. It was really long but semi interesting. After I did a Trattoria Tuesday Dinner (I think thats how I spell it) with IES. We went to the 10 euro place I have gone to a few times in the past and we paid 10 euros for the craziest meal ever. We had a million appetizers egg plant - zucchini - bruschetta - asparagus bruschetta - soup - cheese and tomatoes and basil and more. Then we got pasta (which I thought was going to be the only pasta so i piled it on my plate), then another type of pasta, then another! Then we got veal wrapped in proschutto (spelling?) and then tiramasu. Ridiculously big meal with wine included! The next day I had normal Wednesday classes and made Mint Pasta for my roommates for dinner! They liked it a lot :) Then on Friday we woke up super early to go to the Amalfi Coast for the weekend with IES. We took a bus to Sorrento to see some archealogical site. We then ate lunch at a restaurant and then went to Pompei. Unfortunately the teachers didn't tell us we wouldn't go back to the bus so I didn't have my jacket or camera so I will steal some pictures from friends. It started to get freezing there and I was shaking so one of the teachers that went on the trip gave me his extra North Face. Finally, some chivalry in Italy! haha, but seriously. We saw all of the Pompei ruins which were gorgeous and really awesome. We walked in old baths and saunas they had there. They still haven't excavated all of Pompei but what they did find is beautiful. It was really cool to see the town all set up the way it used to be and imagine living back then. There were so many dogs there that they called Pompei puppies or we called them Pomppies. Apparently you can adopt them from Pompei. We drove back to Sorrento to our really nice hotel for dinner.
The next morning we woke up realllyyy early to start our trip to the Amalfi Coast!! It was supposed to rain that weekend but the weather was on our side and it was GORGEOUS sunny and hot out! We took a bus tour along the Amalfi Coast and saw amazing sites. We drove through Positano (the place the Mandara's Pizza place Posa-Posa is named after because I'm guessing they are from there). Then along Amalfi. While touring we stopped off at a beautiful outlook of the water and view of the coast. They have HUGE lemons there. They are mixed with grapefruit I believe? ... but they are big and we got to try them! They also have really good lemonciello there because of the mass amount of lemon trees. We then got down to the water and went to a church The Amalfi Duomo and toured around there. I then got pizza and pasta and then took a boat ride up and down the coast with some of the class. Later we finished our bus tour and went to the a huge villa. They have many concerts here and the gardens are on a really pretty cliff. After that we went back to Sorento to our hotel.
Pictures of the Amalfi Coast:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2038710&id=1376760021&l=ea3c2e25f9
Next morning an even earlier wake up call! We went to Naples (a better visit than last week because of the weather) and went to the The Naples National Archaeological Museum. At one point when we were touring around the town of naples near the Piazza del Plebiscito. all of these street vendors followed us with their sunglass tables and legit surrounded us in a circle so we couldn't get out, so our teacher, Gianni yelled at them to leave. After our tour around the city we got some original Naples Margarita pizza which was awesomee. Then we had our bus back home (to Rome). On the way back we watched Good Fellas on the bus, a movie I haven't seen before (i know, i know) but it was really relevant considering we were leaving the city controlled by the italian mafia. (It was also Pi Day ... happy Pi Day Dad. (the daughter of a Calculus teacher)).
Then we had classes on Monday and I had a screening for my maffia class of the movie Il Gattopardo. Tuesday I had a field study at the Gesu Church which was the most AMAZING church I have ever been to. Definitely taking mom and dad to this one! The ceilling is amazing and abstract. It fools you into thinking some parts are 3d when they actually aren't. We then went into a huge library which reminded me of Beauty & The Beast. In it was a ginormous globe. Whoever made it must not have known that California is in fact not an island ... but they had NY in the right place!
Wednesday was St. Patricks day! I know everyone at home had a great time at the parade and after! Thank you Mom & Dad, as well as Nana & Pops for the St. Patricks day cards! I love getting mail here and that was really nice to get :) That morning some friends and I went to the Papal Audience to see the Pope out in St. Peter's Square. It was the best morning to go, it was so hot outside. He did everything in Italian, German, English, French, and Spanish. He even had a shout out to people of Irish descent and wished us a Happy St. Patricks Day! After the Pope I went to Abbey Theatre, an Irish pub with 2 of my friends for lunch and a Guinness (I actually like Guinness, who knew). I shared a cheeseburger - fries - and Irish smoked salmon with my friend. We also practiced our Italian oral presentations since we had them about an hour after. My oral presentation was on my favorite Pizza Place here and how my family celebrates St. Patricks day (doesn't seem like they have much to do with each other but if flowed fine haha). I wore my State Patricks day shirt that day (Penn State's St. Patricks Day). Then we went back to the apartment to cram for our Italian Midterm which was the next day and then went out to the Irish Pub, Scholars Lounge to celebrate St. Patricks day with the rest of Rome! (So many people from Ireland there!)
On Thursday I had my Italian Midterm (find out how I did on that one later today). Then Friday I went to the Colosseum with my friend from PSU that is abroad in Rome but in a different program. While in the Colosseum I saw some familiar faces and it was the Confrey family! Such a strange coincidence! I didn't even know they were in Italy! We all said hi and Trisha took a pic and we continued touring the Colosseum. We then went back to Trastevere since my friend has never been and I toured her around there and showed her my apartment. We then went for a late lunch and I got gnocci with buffalo mozzerella (delicious). The restaurant was really cool, they had big flat screen TVs that showed the stove top so you could see your meal being made! (Almost like Habatchi or Stir Crazy!) I then went back to do some work for a while and then dinner time rolled around and all of my friends went to dinner in Trastevere and I got pasta with clams (love it). We later went to "cheap bar" or also known as "bar san calisto". Its right near my apartment and the drinks are super cheap. Then the rest of my friends went out to Coyote club and I went back to my apartment and prepared to video chat Corinne.
Tucker has been keeping me in the loop of his proprosal plans and told me he went out to dinner with my parents on Thursday night and planned on asking Corinne the BIG QUESTION on Friday. Confrey had the awesome idea of video chatting Corinne after Tucker asks her at the mini party he threw her at the apartment in Hoboken so it was like I was there! I waited up and got to see Tucker and Corinne as well as the rest of the party - I was so excited for them because I love Tucker! Now Hailey has legit parents! Exciting! After crying and congratulating them and finding out I'm Maid of Honor!!!!! I went to sleep haha
Saturday I went to the Vatican Museum with some friends and spent the entire day there. I loved it, they had so many different sections of the museum. My favorite was the Mesopotamia section and Egyptians. They had a really well preserved mummy which was awesome (you could even see her hair and nails!). Sunday I spent the entire day studying for my week of Midterms that were ahead of me. Since then I have had about 2 hours of sleep a night.
Monday was my Medieval Art in Rome Exam which wasn't tooooo horrible. We had to identify 4 monuments we saw and write an essay on each. That night I barely slept because I had to schedule for my PSU classes at 5am (12am at PSU). Unfortunately E-Lion shut down and I had to click Log In until 7am until I could schedule. I got all of the classes I wanted ... except for my acctg class because I have to wait for business majors to schedule first. Tuesday morning, after about an hour of sleep I had my Roman Architecture Exam which was a LOT harder than we all thought it would be. She never told us we had identifications on slides and didn't tell us we needed to know the years ... not sure how I did on that one. My Social Issues in Southern Italy exam was on Wednesday. He said we would have multiple choice for 50% and then 40% would be essays and 10% would be our paper on Naples. I was mad to see that we only had 10 multiple choice which means each counts for 5 points. And 6 of the multiple choice were on the same concept which I didn't understand :/ so that should be interesting. But I did do well on the essays! Today I had my film exam which I think I did really good on. And I'm FINALLY DONE WITH MIDTERMS!! I just have Italian class - need to pack - clean - get ready for Greece! We leave tomorrow morning at like 10am for Athens. Spend 2 days in Athens and then 4 days in Crete. I then return to Rome Wednesday night to spend the rest of the week with my parents for Easter! I can't wait to see them and bring them around :)
I'll add pictures later. I have been swarmed with work recently so I'll see what I can do.
Here are pictures from the Papal Audience - St. Patricks Day - The Colosseum - and my Fav Pizza Place:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2037480&id=1376760021&l=e17789a342
Pictures from Villa Borghese bike riding trip:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2038801&id=1376760021&l=a7f5144ab7
Pictures from the Vatican Museum:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2038733&id=1376760021&l=ab089a3f96
Ciao!
- Krista
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Monday, March 8, 2010
Italian Hollywood / Naples / Futbol week
After still feeling nauseous from the insane plane ride back from Amsterdam, I went to class anyway on Wednesday and I'm happy I did. We played a game in my Italian class in order to prepare for our quiz on Thursday. Our teacher Marta called it "Capture the Flag" when in reality it was a mix between tag/steal the bacon/family feud/ghost. Our two teams were tied almost the entire game and then she called my name and I beat the kid to the flag and got all the verbs right to win it for our team! Very exciting haha - of course I tried to get our team an extra point or two on our quiz but Marta wasn't having it. After class we went to the 10 euro dinner place - and I still felt gross from the plane and couldn't eat much :/ (lack of sleep isn't helping).
Thursday I had my film classes field study to Cinecitta (Italy's Hollywood) although their sign isn't as impressive. We walked around different sets and saw some of the Gangs of New York set which was cool (mostly for other people since I never saw it :/). We finally got to Nanni Moretti's set of Habemus Papam, a comedy about a new Pope. After walking by the trailers and seeing many actors and set pieces we walked inside to the actual set (where we couldn't take pictures). We were there for a scene where all of the Cardinals are singing that they are ready to pick a new pope. As soon as we walk onto the set we hear someone screaming like a lunatic to someone. Of course, as stereotypical as it was, the director, Nanni Moretti, was yelling at some lady about the costumes or something (it was in Italian). After his temper tantrum he greeted us and was really nice! haha Everyone knew our teacher because she has directed films in the past. We were able to watch a few takes of that scene and on our way out Nanni shook all of our hands and said Ciao! He is apparently really big here so it's an awesome experience.
<<<< Our Film class at Cinnecitta.
<<< Nanni Moretti
After that I had my dreaded Italian quiz. One part was where you had to write interview questions to Obama and ask him how old he is, where he lives, what he does in his spare time. I said he was 50 because it was the only high number I could remember, that he lived in a white house ... not The White House, and that he likes to dance in his spare time (ballare is an easy verb to remember thanks to Enrique Inglesias) I hope I did well! The listening was a lot easier than the first quiz.
Here are pictures from my past few field studies including the Film trip!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2036607&id=1376760021&l=1de75a6017
On Friday I woke up SUPER early to go to IES for our day trip to Naples for my Mafia class which is actually Social Issues in Southern Italy. It was a gross cold rainy day (as all of my weekend trips have been. womp). We got in later than expected so we didn't have enough time to tour the University. So we went straight to the SUUD building which is the anti mafia and pro Naples change building. There we saw the Naples governor Antonio Bassolino who spoke to us about the new plans for Naples in the next three years. it included positive educational / cultural / and transportation changes. After that we went to get margarita pizza from a restaurant because it originated in Naples (pasta also originated in Naples!). We then went to a science museum in Naples for a little and went around with a tour guide that showed us some stuff (totally miss the Liberty science center!). At one point he needed a volunteer and of course they picked me to go up and be electrically shocked!!!!!! ... okay maybe not that bad but my hair stuck up. It twas funny. Then we all took the bus ride home and made it back to Rome exhausted.
I woke up early on Saturday to a GORGEOUS day in Rome. Easily high 60's. I jumped into comfy clothes and went for a run around Trastevere. I ran up and down the river as well as explore other parts I haven't been in yet and ran around the Tiber Island a few times. Once I got back I started to get ready for the big game! We went to Monteverde to "balcony tailgate" for the game. We had popcorn / chips / hamburgers / hot dogs / and beer ... we totally Americanized that game for the day! Later we went to the Olympic Stadium in Rome for the big game AS Roma vs AC Milan. The game was INSANE. The fans are beyond crazy. They had HUGE flags and smoke bombs and were screaming and singing. I can easily say Roma fans are much more hardcore than Penn State fans, without a doubt! Unfortunately David Beckham <3(AC Milan) only played the last 15 minutes :( and no one scored the entire game!!! When the time ran out I assumed there was going to be a shoot out so I was really excited. Then everyone started leaving and the teams shook hands. I was beyond confused. After the game we went straight to a club called Mood in our jerseys. I accidentally walked into a private party, turned around and saw Totti (the player whose jersey I was wearing)! Apparently the team went there after the game. After a hot second of being in the super private party I was escorted out by security (perhaps because I was wearing a jersey lol).
Here are pictures from Naples and the AS Roma vs AC Milan game!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2036495&id=1376760021&l=0edecd500
Sunday was a relaxing day for me where I did some readings for class / did laundry / cleaned the apartment / cleaned all the dishes / went food shopping. I got to sleep in super late which was nice and I have felt 10000x better since then. I guess all I needed was a legit full night of sleep!
Today is... Monday. I had my normal three classes and brought lunch for the first time today (I made mint pasta Sunday before I make it for my roommates again on Wednesday) it's awesome :) Thanks Steph and Sal!!! I had a screening for my film class of the movie Bellisima and then came back to the apartment where I'm doing some more homework now and getting ready for tomorrow!
this is the video from the futbol game - it's the AS Roma song and the insane fans (look out for the smoke bombs and fire!)
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1263991444687
Ciao!
Krista
Thursday I had my film classes field study to Cinecitta (Italy's Hollywood) although their sign isn't as impressive. We walked around different sets and saw some of the Gangs of New York set which was cool (mostly for other people since I never saw it :/). We finally got to Nanni Moretti's set of Habemus Papam, a comedy about a new Pope. After walking by the trailers and seeing many actors and set pieces we walked inside to the actual set (where we couldn't take pictures). We were there for a scene where all of the Cardinals are singing that they are ready to pick a new pope. As soon as we walk onto the set we hear someone screaming like a lunatic to someone. Of course, as stereotypical as it was, the director, Nanni Moretti, was yelling at some lady about the costumes or something (it was in Italian). After his temper tantrum he greeted us and was really nice! haha Everyone knew our teacher because she has directed films in the past. We were able to watch a few takes of that scene and on our way out Nanni shook all of our hands and said Ciao! He is apparently really big here so it's an awesome experience.
<<<< Our Film class at Cinnecitta. 
<<< Nanni MorettiAfter that I had my dreaded Italian quiz. One part was where you had to write interview questions to Obama and ask him how old he is, where he lives, what he does in his spare time. I said he was 50 because it was the only high number I could remember, that he lived in a white house ... not The White House, and that he likes to dance in his spare time (ballare is an easy verb to remember thanks to Enrique Inglesias) I hope I did well! The listening was a lot easier than the first quiz.
Here are pictures from my past few field studies including the Film trip!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2036607&id=1376760021&l=1de75a6017
On Friday I woke up SUPER early to go to IES for our day trip to Naples for my Mafia class which is actually Social Issues in Southern Italy. It was a gross cold rainy day (as all of my weekend trips have been. womp). We got in later than expected so we didn't have enough time to tour the University. So we went straight to the SUUD building which is the anti mafia and pro Naples change building. There we saw the Naples governor Antonio Bassolino who spoke to us about the new plans for Naples in the next three years. it included positive educational / cultural / and transportation changes. After that we went to get margarita pizza from a restaurant because it originated in Naples (pasta also originated in Naples!). We then went to a science museum in Naples for a little and went around with a tour guide that showed us some stuff (totally miss the Liberty science center!). At one point he needed a volunteer and of course they picked me to go up and be electrically shocked!!!!!! ... okay maybe not that bad but my hair stuck up. It twas funny. Then we all took the bus ride home and made it back to Rome exhausted.
I woke up early on Saturday to a GORGEOUS day in Rome. Easily high 60's. I jumped into comfy clothes and went for a run around Trastevere. I ran up and down the river as well as explore other parts I haven't been in yet and ran around the Tiber Island a few times. Once I got back I started to get ready for the big game! We went to Monteverde to "balcony tailgate" for the game. We had popcorn / chips / hamburgers / hot dogs / and beer ... we totally Americanized that game for the day! Later we went to the Olympic Stadium in Rome for the big game AS Roma vs AC Milan. The game was INSANE. The fans are beyond crazy. They had HUGE flags and smoke bombs and were screaming and singing. I can easily say Roma fans are much more hardcore than Penn State fans, without a doubt! Unfortunately David Beckham <3(AC Milan) only played the last 15 minutes :( and no one scored the entire game!!! When the time ran out I assumed there was going to be a shoot out so I was really excited. Then everyone started leaving and the teams shook hands. I was beyond confused. After the game we went straight to a club called Mood in our jerseys. I accidentally walked into a private party, turned around and saw Totti (the player whose jersey I was wearing)! Apparently the team went there after the game. After a hot second of being in the super private party I was escorted out by security (perhaps because I was wearing a jersey lol).
Here are pictures from Naples and the AS Roma vs AC Milan game!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2036495&id=1376760021&l=0edecd500
Sunday was a relaxing day for me where I did some readings for class / did laundry / cleaned the apartment / cleaned all the dishes / went food shopping. I got to sleep in super late which was nice and I have felt 10000x better since then. I guess all I needed was a legit full night of sleep!
Today is... Monday. I had my normal three classes and brought lunch for the first time today (I made mint pasta Sunday before I make it for my roommates again on Wednesday) it's awesome :) Thanks Steph and Sal!!! I had a screening for my film class of the movie Bellisima and then came back to the apartment where I'm doing some more homework now and getting ready for tomorrow!
this is the video from the futbol game - it's the AS Roma song and the insane fans (look out for the smoke bombs and fire!)
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1263991444687
Ciao!
Krista
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Amsterdam Weekend
First off, I just finished captioning my longest field study from a week or two ago of the roman forum and roman antiquity stuff if ya wanna check it out ...
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2034731&id=1376760021&l=2785f3a20c
PS - I heard some elderly folk from home (not saying who) didn't know how to get to the albums. You highlight the link fully and then right click and press "copy" ... then go up to the top of your browser and paste it where you put web site addresses and "paste" it there (again with the right click). I hope that is cleared up for everyone now.
On Thursday night we took a taxi to the Rome airport for our trip to Amsterdam. I am not completely sure why we decided to go at 1am since our flight was at 630 am but thats another story ... We basically slept there, on the floors until the plane came and we went on for a flight to Munich with a 30 minute layover and then we went to Amsterdam.
Here are the pictures from the Dave Matthews Band Concert in Rome and pictures from Amsterdam.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2036053&id=1376760021&l=1eae9913eb
Once we arrived at Amsterdam we took a train to the Grand Central station ( i think there may be more A's in it but im not sure). From there we took a tram to our hotel and loaded our stuff in. We stayed in the Marriott hotel and it was being reconstructed while we were there which may be why it was so cheap haha. When we were checking in there was a photoshoot of the lobby area for their new advertisments. After checking in we walked aorund our apartment and tried to figure out exactly where we were. We soon found the Heineken Brewery and took the tour there. It was actually a lot better than I thought it was going to be and we learned a lot about how it started and the ingredients and whatnot. There was even a virtual ride and Heineken karaoke which I didn't take part of because I gave up Karaoke for lent. (I did it the first 3 weeks I was in rome in a row and that is just too much for me as well as Rome. So until Easter I will not be doing any more Karaoke. Thank goodness ... I was running out of material anyway). While on the tour we also had a taste test of each step along the way and then went to the bar to see what this beer they spoke of tasted like haha!
After we all needed a huge nap so we slept for a few and then went out to dinner. Im kind of ashamed to say we went here but ... we went to the Hard Rock Cafe. It was really close to our Hotel and we knew they would have food there that we could never get in Italy. (like food with cheddar cheese which apparently doesnt exist in Italy). I got a chicken fajita and macaroni and cheese. Thennn apple cobler ice cream which was awesome. We were still exhausted and were planning on waking up early the next morning so we went back to sleep.
Next morning we went to the Anne Frank House. We were told to get there early but Im not sure how early they meant because we got there around 10 or 11 and we had to wait on a 2 hour line in the wind and rain. (PS - Amsterdam is COLD) We all had our scarves wrapped around our heads and looked completely ridiculous ... but it kept us a tad bit warmer.
Right before we entered the Anne Frank house a couple stepped over the gate and into the line with us ... which was not okay to a group of 3 girls from NJ and myself. We confronted them and then they said they dont speak english so they dont know what to do. Their reasoning for cutting us was that they didn't want to wait in line ... worst thing you could say to 4 girls that just waited in the wind and rain for 2 hours. We ended up telling the group behind us that they cut so they wouldnt get in right away but they ended up cutting the next group after that ... rude.
Once we got in it was an amazing experience. The furniture was left out of all of the rooms because Otto (Anne's dad) wanted to keep it the way it was found after the Nazis found them in hiding and took everything out. We were able to walk through the secret walkway and staircase they took to the annex which was behind a bookcase. We went through all of the rooms that had things left behind in the house (or things that the people who were helping hide them kept safe). We saw the signs that said No Jews Allowed and the yellow stars they had to wear as well as their fake and real identification cards. Towards the end we saw a video from Otto and the saddest room was where they had family members and friends from her diary and showed when they were taken - where they were taken and when they died. Anne died just a few days after her sister Margot. We saw a video from Anne's friend who was in a camp on the other side of the fence from her. She said that Anne thought that everyone in her family died once her sister did and she was hopeless. Unfortunately Anne didn't know her dad was still alive and the liberation happened only 2-3 weeks after Anne's death. It was an emotional trip.
After visiting the Anne Frank house, we went to the Pancake Bakery which is a hot spot in Amsterdam. The pancakes there are thinner than the normal pancakes we see at home but they are HUGE. I got an omelet with chicken broccoli peppers and tomatoes and then pumpkin soup (shout out to Nanky!). Our meals were delicious and we stayed there for a while attacking our food.
We then walked around more of Amsterdam reading all the funny street signs and names. The dutch language is really funny because for the most part you can figure out what everything says but its in a ridiculous way with a lot of a's and h's. It seems almost like a simpler english. We then stumbled upon the I AMsterdam sign and took pictures by that. There were skating ramps and parks and an ice skating rink right near the sign.
We then went to the shopping areas and window shopped and saw some bizarre and expensive stores with crazy window displays. I then got my Amsterdam winter hat which kept me SOOO much warmer for the weekend. After that we went back to the hotel to shower up and go out into the crazy part of Amsterdam, the Red Light District.
On our way navigating the Red Light District I found a souvenir shop selling Holland-Dutch clog slippers. I forgot to bring slippers with me to Italy and our floors in our apartment arent the cleanest / some of my roommates are klutsy and dropped their plate so there was glass on the floor ... so i wanted a pair of slippers - and what better kind than big yellow clogs?! I love them - they are hilarious and comfy!
We then went to a Japanese Habachi restaurant which wasnt as intense as the Habachi places near us. The lady cooking kinda left us alone whenever the chicken was on the grill and she brought us the rice from the back. womp womp. After dinner I wanted to check out just for fun what was on the KFC menu. Unfortunately KFC does not have mac n cheese or mashed potatoes or the bowl in Amsterdam which is a huge fail. Then we walked towards the Red Light District and saw a bunch of Swans on the water which was kind of bizarre. The Red Light District is a place i can say been there done that because I'm pretty sure I'll never be back! I couldnt believe the stores and people there. Walking down the streets you see the prostitutes standing behind glass doors posing and waiting. Gross. We actually saw about 10 guys go into the rooms. Not my cup of tea. We then left and went back to our safe hotel room :)
The next morning we woke up early and wandered around and found a place with bagels which was AWESOME because there arent bagels in Italy. at all. So we had some bagels there and walked-shopped around before going back to the airport.
Our first flight to Frankfurt, Germany ... (a place I never want to return to again)was delayed for about an hour so we waited around for it. While on the train we hit crazy winds and the plane was dipping and falling and shaking and people on it were crying and calling their families and it was SCARY. The worst part was that every announcement they made sounded really serious and they said it in 4 different languages before English so ... I felt out of the loop. Finally we actually landed which we were all surprised about. That was the first applause I ever heard on a plane after a flight that was due to everyone being happy they made it!
We then got off the plane and had to wait on a line that was more like a crowd of everyone from that flight to figure out what was going to happen next because our next flight was cancelled. After waiting and being pushed for 2 hours (while feeling nauscious the entire time due to the flight and being scaref out of my mind) we got up to the front, where the 40+ crowd yelled at us for 'cutting' them when in fact we waited on the same line as them the entire time. *people our age get absolutely no respect abroad. they assume we are always trying to scam everyone and we arent real people* They almost started a fight with us because we all wanted to go up together so our flights would be together and they didnt understand that we wouldnt be taking up more than one person at the desk. It was really frustrating. After all of that we were told there was a flight that was leaving in 2 hours and we were going to be put on the waiting list for it (which already had 40 people on it) or they can put us up in a hotel and we could leave at 3pm on monday ... which wouldnt work because I had 4 classes on Monday. So we waited to see if we could make that flight. That flight ended up moving its gate about 3 times and being delayed another 2-3 hours. Finally we found out that everyone on the wait list got on the flight! Although it was many hours after our last flight the ride was still not too smooth. I was sitting next to a priest so i felt a lot safter and thought nothing could go wrong now haha.
We arrived in Rome at around 1:30 am which was about 7 hours after we were supposed to arrive. Got home and then went to sleep! So exhausted.
Monday I had class at 9:30 which wasn't too fun after not getting a lot of sleep the past few weeks. I may or may not have nodded off a few times in each class but I made it through. After classes I went to the AS Roma store to buy tickets to the AS Roma vs AC Milan futbol game this Saturday night. There was a huge line there when we got there which was 10 minutes before they went on sale. After waiting 3 hours on the most innificient line I have ever been on, my friends and I finally got our tickets to the game! We opted not to get the 2 lowest prices (12 euro and 18 euro) because thats where the crazy fans go that yell, kick, scream, light people on fire, etc. We are all really excited to go - and I'm going with a bunch of Penn Staters so we are used to going to big 'football' games :)
Today I had an early field study with my Architecture class pretty close to our apartment at Piazza del Gianicolo! Our friends knew how to get there so the lead the way and I didn't know that this part of Trastevere existed. It had a gorgeous view of the city and really pretty villas that we were able to go into with our class. We also went to a temple where Peter was crucified. After that class I had my film class where we discussed Nanni Moretti's film Dear Diary which was a weirddd film. I think he is like the Woody Allen of Italy. Our class is actually going to Cinquecitta on Thursday to go on the set of his film that he is taping now called Habemus Papam (a story about a new pope ... Nanni plays a psychotherapist so it should be an interesting plot). I'm pretty excited to be able to go on the set of a movie especially since Nanni Moretti is such a famous director here in Italy.
PS. I did a tally of how many times she said 'no?' which kept me totally awake during class and laughing along the way. Turns out in less than 60 minutes our teacher said 'no?' 127 times. I kid you not.
Thursday I have my second Italian quiz which should be interesting ... and then Friday is my day trip with my Maffia class to Naples. Then the futbol game on Saturday night! I hope to explore Rome some more this weekend and be able to navigate myself around a bit easier ... I have lived here for a month and still need a map-get lost and dont know all the easiest/fastest ways around!
Until then
Ciao,
Krista
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2034731&id=1376760021&l=2785f3a20c
PS - I heard some elderly folk from home (not saying who) didn't know how to get to the albums. You highlight the link fully and then right click and press "copy" ... then go up to the top of your browser and paste it where you put web site addresses and "paste" it there (again with the right click). I hope that is cleared up for everyone now.
On Thursday night we took a taxi to the Rome airport for our trip to Amsterdam. I am not completely sure why we decided to go at 1am since our flight was at 630 am but thats another story ... We basically slept there, on the floors until the plane came and we went on for a flight to Munich with a 30 minute layover and then we went to Amsterdam.
Here are the pictures from the Dave Matthews Band Concert in Rome and pictures from Amsterdam.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2036053&id=1376760021&l=1eae9913eb
Once we arrived at Amsterdam we took a train to the Grand Central station ( i think there may be more A's in it but im not sure). From there we took a tram to our hotel and loaded our stuff in. We stayed in the Marriott hotel and it was being reconstructed while we were there which may be why it was so cheap haha. When we were checking in there was a photoshoot of the lobby area for their new advertisments. After checking in we walked aorund our apartment and tried to figure out exactly where we were. We soon found the Heineken Brewery and took the tour there. It was actually a lot better than I thought it was going to be and we learned a lot about how it started and the ingredients and whatnot. There was even a virtual ride and Heineken karaoke which I didn't take part of because I gave up Karaoke for lent. (I did it the first 3 weeks I was in rome in a row and that is just too much for me as well as Rome. So until Easter I will not be doing any more Karaoke. Thank goodness ... I was running out of material anyway). While on the tour we also had a taste test of each step along the way and then went to the bar to see what this beer they spoke of tasted like haha!
After we all needed a huge nap so we slept for a few and then went out to dinner. Im kind of ashamed to say we went here but ... we went to the Hard Rock Cafe. It was really close to our Hotel and we knew they would have food there that we could never get in Italy. (like food with cheddar cheese which apparently doesnt exist in Italy). I got a chicken fajita and macaroni and cheese. Thennn apple cobler ice cream which was awesome. We were still exhausted and were planning on waking up early the next morning so we went back to sleep.
Next morning we went to the Anne Frank House. We were told to get there early but Im not sure how early they meant because we got there around 10 or 11 and we had to wait on a 2 hour line in the wind and rain. (PS - Amsterdam is COLD) We all had our scarves wrapped around our heads and looked completely ridiculous ... but it kept us a tad bit warmer.
Right before we entered the Anne Frank house a couple stepped over the gate and into the line with us ... which was not okay to a group of 3 girls from NJ and myself. We confronted them and then they said they dont speak english so they dont know what to do. Their reasoning for cutting us was that they didn't want to wait in line ... worst thing you could say to 4 girls that just waited in the wind and rain for 2 hours. We ended up telling the group behind us that they cut so they wouldnt get in right away but they ended up cutting the next group after that ... rude. Once we got in it was an amazing experience. The furniture was left out of all of the rooms because Otto (Anne's dad) wanted to keep it the way it was found after the Nazis found them in hiding and took everything out. We were able to walk through the secret walkway and staircase they took to the annex which was behind a bookcase. We went through all of the rooms that had things left behind in the house (or things that the people who were helping hide them kept safe). We saw the signs that said No Jews Allowed and the yellow stars they had to wear as well as their fake and real identification cards. Towards the end we saw a video from Otto and the saddest room was where they had family members and friends from her diary and showed when they were taken - where they were taken and when they died. Anne died just a few days after her sister Margot. We saw a video from Anne's friend who was in a camp on the other side of the fence from her. She said that Anne thought that everyone in her family died once her sister did and she was hopeless. Unfortunately Anne didn't know her dad was still alive and the liberation happened only 2-3 weeks after Anne's death. It was an emotional trip.
After visiting the Anne Frank house, we went to the Pancake Bakery which is a hot spot in Amsterdam. The pancakes there are thinner than the normal pancakes we see at home but they are HUGE. I got an omelet with chicken broccoli peppers and tomatoes and then pumpkin soup (shout out to Nanky!). Our meals were delicious and we stayed there for a while attacking our food.
We then walked around more of Amsterdam reading all the funny street signs and names. The dutch language is really funny because for the most part you can figure out what everything says but its in a ridiculous way with a lot of a's and h's. It seems almost like a simpler english. We then stumbled upon the I AMsterdam sign and took pictures by that. There were skating ramps and parks and an ice skating rink right near the sign.
We then went to the shopping areas and window shopped and saw some bizarre and expensive stores with crazy window displays. I then got my Amsterdam winter hat which kept me SOOO much warmer for the weekend. After that we went back to the hotel to shower up and go out into the crazy part of Amsterdam, the Red Light District.
On our way navigating the Red Light District I found a souvenir shop selling Holland-Dutch clog slippers. I forgot to bring slippers with me to Italy and our floors in our apartment arent the cleanest / some of my roommates are klutsy and dropped their plate so there was glass on the floor ... so i wanted a pair of slippers - and what better kind than big yellow clogs?! I love them - they are hilarious and comfy!
We then went to a Japanese Habachi restaurant which wasnt as intense as the Habachi places near us. The lady cooking kinda left us alone whenever the chicken was on the grill and she brought us the rice from the back. womp womp. After dinner I wanted to check out just for fun what was on the KFC menu. Unfortunately KFC does not have mac n cheese or mashed potatoes or the bowl in Amsterdam which is a huge fail. Then we walked towards the Red Light District and saw a bunch of Swans on the water which was kind of bizarre. The Red Light District is a place i can say been there done that because I'm pretty sure I'll never be back! I couldnt believe the stores and people there. Walking down the streets you see the prostitutes standing behind glass doors posing and waiting. Gross. We actually saw about 10 guys go into the rooms. Not my cup of tea. We then left and went back to our safe hotel room :)
The next morning we woke up early and wandered around and found a place with bagels which was AWESOME because there arent bagels in Italy. at all. So we had some bagels there and walked-shopped around before going back to the airport.
Our first flight to Frankfurt, Germany ... (a place I never want to return to again)was delayed for about an hour so we waited around for it. While on the train we hit crazy winds and the plane was dipping and falling and shaking and people on it were crying and calling their families and it was SCARY. The worst part was that every announcement they made sounded really serious and they said it in 4 different languages before English so ... I felt out of the loop. Finally we actually landed which we were all surprised about. That was the first applause I ever heard on a plane after a flight that was due to everyone being happy they made it!
We then got off the plane and had to wait on a line that was more like a crowd of everyone from that flight to figure out what was going to happen next because our next flight was cancelled. After waiting and being pushed for 2 hours (while feeling nauscious the entire time due to the flight and being scaref out of my mind) we got up to the front, where the 40+ crowd yelled at us for 'cutting' them when in fact we waited on the same line as them the entire time. *people our age get absolutely no respect abroad. they assume we are always trying to scam everyone and we arent real people* They almost started a fight with us because we all wanted to go up together so our flights would be together and they didnt understand that we wouldnt be taking up more than one person at the desk. It was really frustrating. After all of that we were told there was a flight that was leaving in 2 hours and we were going to be put on the waiting list for it (which already had 40 people on it) or they can put us up in a hotel and we could leave at 3pm on monday ... which wouldnt work because I had 4 classes on Monday. So we waited to see if we could make that flight. That flight ended up moving its gate about 3 times and being delayed another 2-3 hours. Finally we found out that everyone on the wait list got on the flight! Although it was many hours after our last flight the ride was still not too smooth. I was sitting next to a priest so i felt a lot safter and thought nothing could go wrong now haha.
We arrived in Rome at around 1:30 am which was about 7 hours after we were supposed to arrive. Got home and then went to sleep! So exhausted.
Monday I had class at 9:30 which wasn't too fun after not getting a lot of sleep the past few weeks. I may or may not have nodded off a few times in each class but I made it through. After classes I went to the AS Roma store to buy tickets to the AS Roma vs AC Milan futbol game this Saturday night. There was a huge line there when we got there which was 10 minutes before they went on sale. After waiting 3 hours on the most innificient line I have ever been on, my friends and I finally got our tickets to the game! We opted not to get the 2 lowest prices (12 euro and 18 euro) because thats where the crazy fans go that yell, kick, scream, light people on fire, etc. We are all really excited to go - and I'm going with a bunch of Penn Staters so we are used to going to big 'football' games :)
Today I had an early field study with my Architecture class pretty close to our apartment at Piazza del Gianicolo! Our friends knew how to get there so the lead the way and I didn't know that this part of Trastevere existed. It had a gorgeous view of the city and really pretty villas that we were able to go into with our class. We also went to a temple where Peter was crucified. After that class I had my film class where we discussed Nanni Moretti's film Dear Diary which was a weirddd film. I think he is like the Woody Allen of Italy. Our class is actually going to Cinquecitta on Thursday to go on the set of his film that he is taping now called Habemus Papam (a story about a new pope ... Nanni plays a psychotherapist so it should be an interesting plot). I'm pretty excited to be able to go on the set of a movie especially since Nanni Moretti is such a famous director here in Italy.
PS. I did a tally of how many times she said 'no?' which kept me totally awake during class and laughing along the way. Turns out in less than 60 minutes our teacher said 'no?' 127 times. I kid you not.
Thursday I have my second Italian quiz which should be interesting ... and then Friday is my day trip with my Maffia class to Naples. Then the futbol game on Saturday night! I hope to explore Rome some more this weekend and be able to navigate myself around a bit easier ... I have lived here for a month and still need a map-get lost and dont know all the easiest/fastest ways around!
Until then
Ciao,
Krista
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Dave Matthews speaks English :)
Monday consisted of 4 classes and 2 screenings for my Italian Film class. One was Rome, Open City and then Bicycle Thief. I really enjoyed them! After that long day of classes from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. I got back to the apartment and Shauna, my roommate, made delicious chicken parm for all of us. Tuesday I had a field study with my Roman Architecture class. We walked all around Rome and we learned about old buildings, designs, arches, and courtyards that were all relatively close to our school. Our teacher is too cute, she has this British accent when she speaks English and says the funniest things. She explained to us that the richest women back then were prostitutes and they were 1/10th of the population and would have the biggest and nicest houses. She said their lives were amazing and "grand" until they died because they wouldn't be buried and they had to be cut up into pieces hahaha. She's really entertaining.
After that class we had our film class and talked about the screenings of the films we watched. I made a lot of good points in class (woop!) but our teacher is sooo hard to understand. Her English is super choppy and it takes her like 20 minutes to say a sentence and have it make sense and have meaning to it. She also says "no?" after almost every word which is really distracting and unnecessary. I may start a tally next class and I'll let you know how many times she actually said "no?" in an hour, you'll be surprised.
I then had Italian class and after learning the different sounds of "ch" "ci" "ce" "gia" "ge" "gli" and whatnot we had a game of BINGO and my partner and I won!!! Since we won we got a free cafe from our teacher at the bar close to us called Nero's Cafe.
After class I booked it back to the apartment to shower and get ready for the Dave Matthews Concert!! We weren't sure where our seats where or if we were standing or not because ... our tickets were in Italian. We show up and the place is PACKED and it turns out we are on the floor standing (which is so me because I can push up to the front like nothing). I told the girls to get ready, make a train and hold my hand and I (being the obnoxious American that I was) only spoke Italian walking through the crowd pointing to the front saying "mi amica! mi amica!" acting as if I was trying to get to my friend. Needless to say I squeezed my way through hundreds of people and we ended up 3rd row center, right in front of Dave. Unfortunately I forgot my camera (grrrr) so I'll have to wait to put pictures up after my friends upload them. (they are so good because we were so close) He played a lot of new songs but a few old ones too in the end which was awesome (didn't play Ants Marching ... :/ )
The next day I got to sleep in till my class at 12:15 :) twas a pretty normal day of classes - nothing too special. Since Dave Matthews interrupted our Taco Tuesday night the night before, my roommate and I made fajitas on Wednesday!
Today (Thursday) I had a field study super far away with my Medieval Art in Rome class and we went into an old church to see some gorgeous mosaics. Because the church was so full with tourists our teacher had a guy there bring us up to the high balcony which was a gorgeous view and up close to the mosaic. She asked for our interpretations and where we thought they restored it and she loved my answer. After class she asked if I was an Art History major and now she definitely knows my name (brownie points!). I learned a lot today from the field study and got to ask some questions I was wondering about the art we've been seeing during the Roman Antiquity time. After class I justttt made it to my film class because we were so far away from IES. Twas a tad bit boring but I knew I could get Pizza after so I was looking forward to that :) ... always food. After some pizza with pepperoni (not pepperoni it means peppers here) I had my Italian class. After class I went to pick up my free latte macchiato from Nerro's and from my BINGO defeat. Uncle Rocho gave me a call and kept me updated and told me "not to go to a sex store in Amsterdam, because that's why Damien wanted to go" ... that's a quote. haha I'll make sure to stay away. Tonight I made fresh Bruschetta (Brusk-eh-tta) here. It was soooo good. And my roommate Jessica made Italian Mac n Cheese (mostly because they don't have cheddar cheese here!)
Now I'm packing up because at 1 a.m. we are leaving to go to the airport for Amsterdam! I'll update ya more on that when we're back.
I hope the snow stops at home!
tot ziens!
Krista
After that class we had our film class and talked about the screenings of the films we watched. I made a lot of good points in class (woop!) but our teacher is sooo hard to understand. Her English is super choppy and it takes her like 20 minutes to say a sentence and have it make sense and have meaning to it. She also says "no?" after almost every word which is really distracting and unnecessary. I may start a tally next class and I'll let you know how many times she actually said "no?" in an hour, you'll be surprised.
I then had Italian class and after learning the different sounds of "ch" "ci" "ce" "gia" "ge" "gli" and whatnot we had a game of BINGO and my partner and I won!!! Since we won we got a free cafe from our teacher at the bar close to us called Nero's Cafe.
After class I booked it back to the apartment to shower and get ready for the Dave Matthews Concert!! We weren't sure where our seats where or if we were standing or not because ... our tickets were in Italian. We show up and the place is PACKED and it turns out we are on the floor standing (which is so me because I can push up to the front like nothing). I told the girls to get ready, make a train and hold my hand and I (being the obnoxious American that I was) only spoke Italian walking through the crowd pointing to the front saying "mi amica! mi amica!" acting as if I was trying to get to my friend. Needless to say I squeezed my way through hundreds of people and we ended up 3rd row center, right in front of Dave. Unfortunately I forgot my camera (grrrr) so I'll have to wait to put pictures up after my friends upload them. (they are so good because we were so close) He played a lot of new songs but a few old ones too in the end which was awesome (didn't play Ants Marching ... :/ )
The next day I got to sleep in till my class at 12:15 :) twas a pretty normal day of classes - nothing too special. Since Dave Matthews interrupted our Taco Tuesday night the night before, my roommate and I made fajitas on Wednesday!
Today (Thursday) I had a field study super far away with my Medieval Art in Rome class and we went into an old church to see some gorgeous mosaics. Because the church was so full with tourists our teacher had a guy there bring us up to the high balcony which was a gorgeous view and up close to the mosaic. She asked for our interpretations and where we thought they restored it and she loved my answer. After class she asked if I was an Art History major and now she definitely knows my name (brownie points!). I learned a lot today from the field study and got to ask some questions I was wondering about the art we've been seeing during the Roman Antiquity time. After class I justttt made it to my film class because we were so far away from IES. Twas a tad bit boring but I knew I could get Pizza after so I was looking forward to that :) ... always food. After some pizza with pepperoni (not pepperoni it means peppers here) I had my Italian class. After class I went to pick up my free latte macchiato from Nerro's and from my BINGO defeat. Uncle Rocho gave me a call and kept me updated and told me "not to go to a sex store in Amsterdam, because that's why Damien wanted to go" ... that's a quote. haha I'll make sure to stay away. Tonight I made fresh Bruschetta (Brusk-eh-tta) here. It was soooo good. And my roommate Jessica made Italian Mac n Cheese (mostly because they don't have cheddar cheese here!)
Now I'm packing up because at 1 a.m. we are leaving to go to the airport for Amsterdam! I'll update ya more on that when we're back.
I hope the snow stops at home!
tot ziens!
Krista
Monday, February 22, 2010
Weekend in Florence / Pisa
Friday morning I was up at the Rome Termini Train Station at 6:30 a.m! We took a 4 hour ride to Florence and arrived around 11 a.m. We first went to our Hostel which was called Plus Florence. It was only about 10 blocks from the train station in Florence. We dropped off our luggage there because we couldn't check in until 3 p.m. We then went on to venture Florence and see the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore (the Duomo) and the San Lorenzo Market (the leather market). We got lost a few times but then found the market. The entire street smelt like leather! It was insane. I fell in love with the first leather jacket I saw of course but decided not to buy anything until the last day after I saw all the other jackets and prices. After walking around the market for a while it started to TORRENTIALLY DOWNPOUR! We all hid in a tiny gelato place to get away from the insane rain. Once the rain lightened up a bit we walked over to the Duomo and went inside to take a look around. After visiting the Duomo and hoping that the rain would finally stop, we went back to the hostel to bring our bags to the room.
This hostel was SO NICE! It had an indoor pool, sauna, restaurant, bar, and rooftop balcony. (If you ever stay in Florence stay there) There were 8 of us in one room. 2 girls I know from PSU, 3 guys from PSU that are in IES and 2 girls from Wofford. It was only 17 euro a night there and the place was really nice! They had a bunch of bunk beds, closet space, a desk, and 2 bathrooms (with an awesome shower - hottest shower I've had since I've been to Italy).
After unpacking and cleaning up we met up with Lauren and Caitlin's friends from PSU that I didn't know. They took us to an amazinggg restaurant Ristorante Pizzeria Dante. Florence is known for its famous steaks "Florentine Steak" it was super expensive so most of the guys got it (luckily they shared and I had some - it was the best steak I've ever eaten!). I ordered pasta with clam sauce and my friend ordered a mushroom pasta so we split both of our meals together so we could try more from the restaurant. This place gave us unlimited bread / wine and gave everyone a free limoncello shot for the end. The food I ate there was easily the best meal I've had in Italy so far.
On Saturday we all woke up and got some lunch at a restaurant. I got lasagna. Nothing compared to my mom's lasagna. I keep comparing all the food to my mom's and although she is 100% Irish, I think she makes better Italian meals than the Italians in Italy! (mad props mom)
After our meal we walked around and went to see Michaelangelo's "David". The real one is in a museum but a replica is outside Palazzo Vecchio on Piazza della Signoria where the original once stood. We then continued to walk around and I went to the Uffizi Gallery. We waited an hour and a half outside on a line to get in but it was definitely worth it! (Many things are extremely inefficient in Italy. like lines, buying food, walking on streets, ect.) My Medieval Art in Rome class already helped a lot with what I saw in the museum! We literally stared at almost every painting and sculpture to take it all in, I loved it! Our favorite piece of art was the many interpretations of La Calunnia di Apelle from Sandro Botticelli. The more we looked at it the more things we found in it and we were trying to figure out what it all meant - it was so interesting. Later I also found a painting that had a pregnant Mary with a dove above her head and one of the people kneeling beside her had rosary beads with a cross on it (I was really confused by that one because Jesus wasn't even born yet but we decided maybe it was foreshadowing? ... still not sure on that one). The museum had mostly religious art and sculptures from the Roman Antiquity era. One painting I saw towards the end looked exactly like Meryl Streep - the resemblance was so creepy! I'm going to try to find out which one it was but I couldn't believe it (super creepy).
After the gallery we began to go back to the Hostel to check out the indoor pool! We then had dinner at the hostel which was really great food! I got bruschetta and spaghetti bolognese. We then all took an hour nap and then went to meet up with the people we had dinner with the night before. On the way to meeting up with them we went on to Il Ponte Vecchio, which is a Medieval bridge over the Arno River. There were many shops and restaurants on the actual bridge! We then went to the girl's apartment to check it out and then went to a pub called Joshua's Tree. After we went to a club called Space which was really fun! We ran into other IES people there. When we left the club we all got late night food and one of the guys told us about this "secret bakery" that only opens really late and it has no sign or anything and seems a little sketchy but you go in and a guy comes up with an apron and asks what you want and you can get really good pastries there for cheap! It was such a bizarre but cool experience!
Then after a VERY short sleep that night I was on a train to Pisa at around 10 a.m. on Sunday. We got to Pisa and took a bus to the leaning tower of Pisa (Torre pendente di Pisa). As soon as I saw it I started hysterically laughing - it really is leaning so much! Apparently it leans 3.99 degrees now. We took some funny pictures with the tower including one with us making the letters of PSU! We then had some gelato and caffe and took the bus / train back to Florence.
As soon as we got to Florence it starts raining again! We went back to the market so I could by a leather jacket (I ended up getting the first one I saw of course!) I talked the guy down from 125 euro to 80 (which still seems like a lot to me but "When in Florence"! The leather is so soft, I'm really excited to wear it! After some shopping we sprinted back to our hostel to pick up our luggage and then ran back to the train to get the 5:15 p.m. train back to Rome.
I forgot a book so I was extremely bored on the 4.5 hour trip. When I got back I ran to my apartment to try to catch the last few minutes of THON (Penn State's Dance Marathon to help raise money for pediatric cancer) online for a live feed. I got back just in time to see everyone sit down after standing for 46 hours without sleep. I found out that my sorority, Gamma Phi Beta and our paired fraternity, Acacia got 5th place and raised $119,936.21 which is pretty awesome! The total amount of money raised by the biggest student run philanthropy in the world was $ 7,838,054.36 FTK (for the kids). This total is even higher than last years when we all raised a little over 7.6 million. This THON was very special to our sorority and fraternity because our THON child, Jed (who we have spent time with and created a strong friendship with) passed away this January from leukemia and infection of his lungs at the young age of 12. This made this THON so personal for all of us - I wish I could have experienced THON this year back at PSU.
Right now its 1:27 a.m. and I still haven't unpacked / started homework for tomorrow (9:30 a.m. class ... not fun) so I'm going to go to sleep.
I'll eventually put up the pictures from my weekend and I still need to put some captions on the pictures from the first museum I went to with my class ... perhaps when I have free time (which may be never).
Ciao bella,
Krista
PS - I just added pictures from this trip!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2035072&id=1376760021&l=b92e7cdc04
This hostel was SO NICE! It had an indoor pool, sauna, restaurant, bar, and rooftop balcony. (If you ever stay in Florence stay there) There were 8 of us in one room. 2 girls I know from PSU, 3 guys from PSU that are in IES and 2 girls from Wofford. It was only 17 euro a night there and the place was really nice! They had a bunch of bunk beds, closet space, a desk, and 2 bathrooms (with an awesome shower - hottest shower I've had since I've been to Italy).
After unpacking and cleaning up we met up with Lauren and Caitlin's friends from PSU that I didn't know. They took us to an amazinggg restaurant Ristorante Pizzeria Dante. Florence is known for its famous steaks "Florentine Steak" it was super expensive so most of the guys got it (luckily they shared and I had some - it was the best steak I've ever eaten!). I ordered pasta with clam sauce and my friend ordered a mushroom pasta so we split both of our meals together so we could try more from the restaurant. This place gave us unlimited bread / wine and gave everyone a free limoncello shot for the end. The food I ate there was easily the best meal I've had in Italy so far.
On Saturday we all woke up and got some lunch at a restaurant. I got lasagna. Nothing compared to my mom's lasagna. I keep comparing all the food to my mom's and although she is 100% Irish, I think she makes better Italian meals than the Italians in Italy! (mad props mom)
After our meal we walked around and went to see Michaelangelo's "David". The real one is in a museum but a replica is outside Palazzo Vecchio on Piazza della Signoria where the original once stood. We then continued to walk around and I went to the Uffizi Gallery. We waited an hour and a half outside on a line to get in but it was definitely worth it! (Many things are extremely inefficient in Italy. like lines, buying food, walking on streets, ect.) My Medieval Art in Rome class already helped a lot with what I saw in the museum! We literally stared at almost every painting and sculpture to take it all in, I loved it! Our favorite piece of art was the many interpretations of La Calunnia di Apelle from Sandro Botticelli. The more we looked at it the more things we found in it and we were trying to figure out what it all meant - it was so interesting. Later I also found a painting that had a pregnant Mary with a dove above her head and one of the people kneeling beside her had rosary beads with a cross on it (I was really confused by that one because Jesus wasn't even born yet but we decided maybe it was foreshadowing? ... still not sure on that one). The museum had mostly religious art and sculptures from the Roman Antiquity era. One painting I saw towards the end looked exactly like Meryl Streep - the resemblance was so creepy! I'm going to try to find out which one it was but I couldn't believe it (super creepy).
After the gallery we began to go back to the Hostel to check out the indoor pool! We then had dinner at the hostel which was really great food! I got bruschetta and spaghetti bolognese. We then all took an hour nap and then went to meet up with the people we had dinner with the night before. On the way to meeting up with them we went on to Il Ponte Vecchio, which is a Medieval bridge over the Arno River. There were many shops and restaurants on the actual bridge! We then went to the girl's apartment to check it out and then went to a pub called Joshua's Tree. After we went to a club called Space which was really fun! We ran into other IES people there. When we left the club we all got late night food and one of the guys told us about this "secret bakery" that only opens really late and it has no sign or anything and seems a little sketchy but you go in and a guy comes up with an apron and asks what you want and you can get really good pastries there for cheap! It was such a bizarre but cool experience!
Then after a VERY short sleep that night I was on a train to Pisa at around 10 a.m. on Sunday. We got to Pisa and took a bus to the leaning tower of Pisa (Torre pendente di Pisa). As soon as I saw it I started hysterically laughing - it really is leaning so much! Apparently it leans 3.99 degrees now. We took some funny pictures with the tower including one with us making the letters of PSU! We then had some gelato and caffe and took the bus / train back to Florence.
As soon as we got to Florence it starts raining again! We went back to the market so I could by a leather jacket (I ended up getting the first one I saw of course!) I talked the guy down from 125 euro to 80 (which still seems like a lot to me but "When in Florence"! The leather is so soft, I'm really excited to wear it! After some shopping we sprinted back to our hostel to pick up our luggage and then ran back to the train to get the 5:15 p.m. train back to Rome.
I forgot a book so I was extremely bored on the 4.5 hour trip. When I got back I ran to my apartment to try to catch the last few minutes of THON (Penn State's Dance Marathon to help raise money for pediatric cancer) online for a live feed. I got back just in time to see everyone sit down after standing for 46 hours without sleep. I found out that my sorority, Gamma Phi Beta and our paired fraternity, Acacia got 5th place and raised $119,936.21 which is pretty awesome! The total amount of money raised by the biggest student run philanthropy in the world was $ 7,838,054.36 FTK (for the kids). This total is even higher than last years when we all raised a little over 7.6 million. This THON was very special to our sorority and fraternity because our THON child, Jed (who we have spent time with and created a strong friendship with) passed away this January from leukemia and infection of his lungs at the young age of 12. This made this THON so personal for all of us - I wish I could have experienced THON this year back at PSU.
Right now its 1:27 a.m. and I still haven't unpacked / started homework for tomorrow (9:30 a.m. class ... not fun) so I'm going to go to sleep.
I'll eventually put up the pictures from my weekend and I still need to put some captions on the pictures from the first museum I went to with my class ... perhaps when I have free time (which may be never).
Ciao bella,
Krista
PS - I just added pictures from this trip!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2035072&id=1376760021&l=b92e7cdc04
Thursday, February 18, 2010
We didn't get off for Presidents day ...
Tuesday was another full day of classes for me. I had Roman Arch & Urban Design at 9:30, my Italian Film class at 12:15 and then Italian until 4. My first class was a field study at Castel San'Angelo which is across the river from IES. I am adding pictures up now to an album with a lot of information that we learned there in the captions so look out for that. I really learned a lot there and I love having field studies. Our teachers know so much about the places/art and I wouldn't really appreciate it as much if I went by myself.
It was Tuesday so my roommates and I had a Taco Night :) One of our roommates, Jessica knows how to make Sangria so that was her job for the night. My Wednesday classes start later at 12:15 when I had my Social Issues of Southern Italy class and then Italian at 3. (PS got my quiz back from Italian, I was happily surprised w/ my grade of a B - that was a hard first quiz!) Although it was Ash Wednesday I didn't see ANYONE in Rome with Ashes. I was really surprised since our school is so close to the Vatican.
Our apartment has been pretty faulty recently. Our sink / showers / washing machines get clogged up easily. When they added a door to our shower they did it the wrong way so now every time someone showers there is a huge flood in the kitchen. Hopefully they will be fixing that soon.
Thursday I had my first field study with my Medieval Art in Rome class. We went to Capitoline Hill for a trip to the museum. Our teacher was extremely fast running around the museum trying to show us as much as she could and I really learned a lot about art / sculptures / architecture from the Roman Antiquity era. I am also uploading pictures on the same Field Study album as Castel San'Angelo with details about each of the pieces of art. After class I ran back to IES for my Film class at 12:15. We learned about Neorealism (from Wiki: Italian neorealism (Italian: Neorealismo) is a style of film characterized by stories set amongst the poor and working class, filmed on location, frequently using nonprofessional actors. Italian neorealist films mostly contend with the difficult economical and moral conditions of post-World War II Italy, reflecting the changes in the Italian psyche and the conditions of everyday life: poverty and desperation.) and the three main directors in Italy that made these films around 1940's. (Roberto Rossellini, Vittorio De Sica and Luchino Visconti). During the fascist times, many Italian films were comedies and were falsifications of reality with strong censorship and limits. Neorealism helped use natural lighting / locations / people / situations to expose the truth of what was going on in fascist Italy. Our homework this weekend is to watch Rosselini's "Rome Open City" before our class next Tuesday. We also watched a documentary on Martin Scorsese and how he was affected by the neorealistic films from Italy and what it mean to him. I then had Italian class until 4:30 and walked home (first time in a couple of days it hasn't rained and it was GORGEOUS).
Now I'm packing up for my weekend in Florence. We just got news that the buses / trams / metro / trenitalia are going on strike tomorrow from 8:30 till around 2 which does not work well with our plan. So now we are leaving for Florence at 6:45 am to avoid the strike. (Strikes happen here all the time and the Italians don't care so much but us Americans flip out because we always need to be on time and have no patience what-so-ever)
Check out my pictures from my Field Studies! They are really informative and gorgeous!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2034731&id=1376760021&l=2785f3a20c
Ciao!
It was Tuesday so my roommates and I had a Taco Night :) One of our roommates, Jessica knows how to make Sangria so that was her job for the night. My Wednesday classes start later at 12:15 when I had my Social Issues of Southern Italy class and then Italian at 3. (PS got my quiz back from Italian, I was happily surprised w/ my grade of a B - that was a hard first quiz!) Although it was Ash Wednesday I didn't see ANYONE in Rome with Ashes. I was really surprised since our school is so close to the Vatican.
Our apartment has been pretty faulty recently. Our sink / showers / washing machines get clogged up easily. When they added a door to our shower they did it the wrong way so now every time someone showers there is a huge flood in the kitchen. Hopefully they will be fixing that soon.
Thursday I had my first field study with my Medieval Art in Rome class. We went to Capitoline Hill for a trip to the museum. Our teacher was extremely fast running around the museum trying to show us as much as she could and I really learned a lot about art / sculptures / architecture from the Roman Antiquity era. I am also uploading pictures on the same Field Study album as Castel San'Angelo with details about each of the pieces of art. After class I ran back to IES for my Film class at 12:15. We learned about Neorealism (from Wiki: Italian neorealism (Italian: Neorealismo) is a style of film characterized by stories set amongst the poor and working class, filmed on location, frequently using nonprofessional actors. Italian neorealist films mostly contend with the difficult economical and moral conditions of post-World War II Italy, reflecting the changes in the Italian psyche and the conditions of everyday life: poverty and desperation.) and the three main directors in Italy that made these films around 1940's. (Roberto Rossellini, Vittorio De Sica and Luchino Visconti). During the fascist times, many Italian films were comedies and were falsifications of reality with strong censorship and limits. Neorealism helped use natural lighting / locations / people / situations to expose the truth of what was going on in fascist Italy. Our homework this weekend is to watch Rosselini's "Rome Open City" before our class next Tuesday. We also watched a documentary on Martin Scorsese and how he was affected by the neorealistic films from Italy and what it mean to him. I then had Italian class until 4:30 and walked home (first time in a couple of days it hasn't rained and it was GORGEOUS).
Now I'm packing up for my weekend in Florence. We just got news that the buses / trams / metro / trenitalia are going on strike tomorrow from 8:30 till around 2 which does not work well with our plan. So now we are leaving for Florence at 6:45 am to avoid the strike. (Strikes happen here all the time and the Italians don't care so much but us Americans flip out because we always need to be on time and have no patience what-so-ever)
Check out my pictures from my Field Studies! They are really informative and gorgeous!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2034731&id=1376760021&l=2785f3a20c
Ciao!
Monday, February 15, 2010
second week in Italy
Dear Family, Friends, Random people that found this blog and decided to stalk my life,
This past week has been another crazy busy one. Tuesday I had my second intensive Italian class and had some more homework from that! Then after my class I had to go to the Post Office near the Vatican where I waited in a long and slow line to sign up for my permit to stay, which I guess I wouldn't have needed if I signed up for Irish citizenship in the first place. The permit to stay line in the post office is worst than waiting at the DMV. Italian Student Companions came to help us converse with the people while we were there, but they also let strangers cut our line because we are the young Americans therefore we wait longer and are not important. :/ It rained like crazy that day all day in Rome. Since it was Tuesday we had some friends over for Taco Tuesday which was another huge success. We then hit up our favorite place, Scholars for Tuesday Karaoke where I performed "I Just Wanna Dance With Somebody" from Whitney Houston via 1980's. It was a hit.
Wednesday I had my third intensive Italian class and was done for the day. Thursday was my last intensive Italian class where we learned how to order food from a bar (bar's here aren't what we'd call a bar at home. they are open extremely early in the morning and serve cornetto (croissants), frutta (fruit), caffe (coffee), and te (tea). Look at me with my Italian words! After class I went to the 10 euro place which I now know the name of "Le Fate". There we had tomato bruschetta, asparagus bruschetta, pasta with prosciutto and pumpkin (it was awesome), we also had vanilla gelato with fresh raspberries and syrup over it. SOOO GOOD. That night a lot of people from IES went out but I stayed into to study for my Italian quiz which was the next day (mom, dad, you hear that?!?!?) what an angel.
Friday was the big snow storm! It hasn't snowed in Rome since around 1985 or 86 so they were all freaking out. It actually started to stick later and looked like a blizzard. All of the Romans looked like tourists taking pictures of the city and acting like little kids and throwing snowballs at each other. We were all hoping for a snow day, especially because we all had Italian quizzes.
Unfortunately class wasn't cancelled so I trekked over to IES earlier than class to study some more for the quiz. I also attended the IES soccer meeting where I thought I would try to play for the school's soccer team for fun. This was a great idea in my head until I realized that everyone there either plays for D1 schools or has played for over 14 years. I don't think my skills from me playing Rec soccer for 6 years would help. Especially since I never scored a goal, and cried sitting in the corner of the goal when I was goalie. Eventually I opted out of playing IES soccer, I'll make a better fan. I then had my Italian quiz which was a little more difficult than I hoped. The listening was basically a joke, these Italians speak very fast and I couldn't catch key words at all. After our class we all went to a bar with the class because IES was paying for a drink if we order it in Italian. We also got zeppolis which were awesomee. Since I've never had coffee before I wasn't feeling the idea of going, but one of the girls told me to get Latte Macciatto which is a steamed cappuccino with a lot of milk. I loved it. Now I actually have something to get in the mornings when everyone gets coffee!
After class we walked around and decided to see what Scholars is like during the day. It was awesome, everyone there was from Ireland or England and they were playing great Irish music the entire time. After my Italian breakfast and Irish lunch, we all decided it was time for Chinese! We ended up finding a great Chinese place on the main Trastevere street. I got fried rice, fried dumplings and chicken with pineapple (in a pineapple!). We then called it a night because we had to meet at the bus terminal at 7:45 am the next day.
After waking up at the crack of dawn and getting to the bus terminal, we took a 7 hour bus ride from Rome to Venice (or Venezia). We arrived around 3pm and took a huge water taxi from our bus to Piazza San Marco which is where all of the Carnival festivities happened. Venice is easily the most gorgeous city I have ever been in. The water taxi ride was breath taking. From the gondolas and buildings on the water to the sun reflecting off the Adriatic Sea - it's amazing. When we got to the Piazza San Marco it was PACKED with families and couples (Valentines Day Weekend) and everyone was dressed up or had masks or their faces painted! Carnival is like Halloween for the kids in Italy so they dress up as whatever they want and throw confetti at everyone! We walked around and listened to music and saw many mini shows and dancers. After we walked through the small walkways around the city and window shopped. We then had dinner at a restaurant after meeting up with 2 other girls from Penn State. After there was a huge dance party / parade going on in the Piazza. Overall it was an amazing trip!
We then took a 6 hour bus ride back and arrived in Rome at 7am. After cooking/stuffing pasta with butter in our mouths, we all passed out and went to sleep! Sunday was Valentines day and it was filled with all of us catching up on our sleep and cleaning our apartments. That night we all went out to a family style restaurant where I got Gnocchi,Chicken Parm and Pizza with mushrooms.
Today, Monday was the start of my first week of "real" classes. I had my Roman Architecture and Urban Design class at 9:30 which had 4 of my friends in it. After, I had a Medieval Art in Rome class at 10:45. After, I went to the post office near the Vatican to drop off some post cards I finally wrote up and had awesome margarita pizza. While I had some time to waste my friend and I walked around some more and saw an ice skating rink right near our school which was in my opinion pretty ghetto. After that I had my Social Issues in Southern Italy class at 1:15. It was there that I learned that our day trip will be to Naples! (pretty amped) I also learned that this class is mostly about the mafia (which I had no idea since I signed up for it because I couldn't get into other classes) I'm now SUPER excited for the class, and my teacher seems really cool!
After class my roommate Shauna had a homework assignment to do a little scavenger hunt around Rome so I helped her do that with our other roommate Jess. We got lost a few times but also found places we haven't seen before which was nice. Once we got back we all went to the supermarket to go hardcore shopping since our kitchen is looking pretty empty. Now I'm updating this blog and hoping to God my computer doesn't freeze / randomly turn off yet again.
FYI Mom & Dad, it hasn't done this before and now my computer is freezing ALL of the time and just turning off and overheating (even though the battery isn't in). Whoever is reading this blog, I'll be taking donations for a new computer (preferably not a Dell since they have failed me twice in less than 4 years). I would have updated pictures by now but my computer hasn't let me. :/
Here's a new album of my Carnival pictures in Venice.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2034298&id=1376760021&l=80012e86bb
and here is the other Rome album that has some updates on it too..
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2033365&id=1376760021&l=9af6d071ed
Ciao fools,
Krista
This past week has been another crazy busy one. Tuesday I had my second intensive Italian class and had some more homework from that! Then after my class I had to go to the Post Office near the Vatican where I waited in a long and slow line to sign up for my permit to stay, which I guess I wouldn't have needed if I signed up for Irish citizenship in the first place. The permit to stay line in the post office is worst than waiting at the DMV. Italian Student Companions came to help us converse with the people while we were there, but they also let strangers cut our line because we are the young Americans therefore we wait longer and are not important. :/ It rained like crazy that day all day in Rome. Since it was Tuesday we had some friends over for Taco Tuesday which was another huge success. We then hit up our favorite place, Scholars for Tuesday Karaoke where I performed "I Just Wanna Dance With Somebody" from Whitney Houston via 1980's. It was a hit.
Wednesday I had my third intensive Italian class and was done for the day. Thursday was my last intensive Italian class where we learned how to order food from a bar (bar's here aren't what we'd call a bar at home. they are open extremely early in the morning and serve cornetto (croissants), frutta (fruit), caffe (coffee), and te (tea). Look at me with my Italian words! After class I went to the 10 euro place which I now know the name of "Le Fate". There we had tomato bruschetta, asparagus bruschetta, pasta with prosciutto and pumpkin (it was awesome), we also had vanilla gelato with fresh raspberries and syrup over it. SOOO GOOD. That night a lot of people from IES went out but I stayed into to study for my Italian quiz which was the next day (mom, dad, you hear that?!?!?) what an angel.
Friday was the big snow storm! It hasn't snowed in Rome since around 1985 or 86 so they were all freaking out. It actually started to stick later and looked like a blizzard. All of the Romans looked like tourists taking pictures of the city and acting like little kids and throwing snowballs at each other. We were all hoping for a snow day, especially because we all had Italian quizzes.
Unfortunately class wasn't cancelled so I trekked over to IES earlier than class to study some more for the quiz. I also attended the IES soccer meeting where I thought I would try to play for the school's soccer team for fun. This was a great idea in my head until I realized that everyone there either plays for D1 schools or has played for over 14 years. I don't think my skills from me playing Rec soccer for 6 years would help. Especially since I never scored a goal, and cried sitting in the corner of the goal when I was goalie. Eventually I opted out of playing IES soccer, I'll make a better fan. I then had my Italian quiz which was a little more difficult than I hoped. The listening was basically a joke, these Italians speak very fast and I couldn't catch key words at all. After our class we all went to a bar with the class because IES was paying for a drink if we order it in Italian. We also got zeppolis which were awesomee. Since I've never had coffee before I wasn't feeling the idea of going, but one of the girls told me to get Latte Macciatto which is a steamed cappuccino with a lot of milk. I loved it. Now I actually have something to get in the mornings when everyone gets coffee!
After class we walked around and decided to see what Scholars is like during the day. It was awesome, everyone there was from Ireland or England and they were playing great Irish music the entire time. After my Italian breakfast and Irish lunch, we all decided it was time for Chinese! We ended up finding a great Chinese place on the main Trastevere street. I got fried rice, fried dumplings and chicken with pineapple (in a pineapple!). We then called it a night because we had to meet at the bus terminal at 7:45 am the next day.
After waking up at the crack of dawn and getting to the bus terminal, we took a 7 hour bus ride from Rome to Venice (or Venezia). We arrived around 3pm and took a huge water taxi from our bus to Piazza San Marco which is where all of the Carnival festivities happened. Venice is easily the most gorgeous city I have ever been in. The water taxi ride was breath taking. From the gondolas and buildings on the water to the sun reflecting off the Adriatic Sea - it's amazing. When we got to the Piazza San Marco it was PACKED with families and couples (Valentines Day Weekend) and everyone was dressed up or had masks or their faces painted! Carnival is like Halloween for the kids in Italy so they dress up as whatever they want and throw confetti at everyone! We walked around and listened to music and saw many mini shows and dancers. After we walked through the small walkways around the city and window shopped. We then had dinner at a restaurant after meeting up with 2 other girls from Penn State. After there was a huge dance party / parade going on in the Piazza. Overall it was an amazing trip!
We then took a 6 hour bus ride back and arrived in Rome at 7am. After cooking/stuffing pasta with butter in our mouths, we all passed out and went to sleep! Sunday was Valentines day and it was filled with all of us catching up on our sleep and cleaning our apartments. That night we all went out to a family style restaurant where I got Gnocchi,Chicken Parm and Pizza with mushrooms.
Today, Monday was the start of my first week of "real" classes. I had my Roman Architecture and Urban Design class at 9:30 which had 4 of my friends in it. After, I had a Medieval Art in Rome class at 10:45. After, I went to the post office near the Vatican to drop off some post cards I finally wrote up and had awesome margarita pizza. While I had some time to waste my friend and I walked around some more and saw an ice skating rink right near our school which was in my opinion pretty ghetto. After that I had my Social Issues in Southern Italy class at 1:15. It was there that I learned that our day trip will be to Naples! (pretty amped) I also learned that this class is mostly about the mafia (which I had no idea since I signed up for it because I couldn't get into other classes) I'm now SUPER excited for the class, and my teacher seems really cool!
After class my roommate Shauna had a homework assignment to do a little scavenger hunt around Rome so I helped her do that with our other roommate Jess. We got lost a few times but also found places we haven't seen before which was nice. Once we got back we all went to the supermarket to go hardcore shopping since our kitchen is looking pretty empty. Now I'm updating this blog and hoping to God my computer doesn't freeze / randomly turn off yet again.
FYI Mom & Dad, it hasn't done this before and now my computer is freezing ALL of the time and just turning off and overheating (even though the battery isn't in). Whoever is reading this blog, I'll be taking donations for a new computer (preferably not a Dell since they have failed me twice in less than 4 years). I would have updated pictures by now but my computer hasn't let me. :/
Here's a new album of my Carnival pictures in Venice.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2034298&id=1376760021&l=80012e86bb
and here is the other Rome album that has some updates on it too..
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2033365&id=1376760021&l=9af6d071ed
Ciao fools,
Krista
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