when in rome....

When in Rome, you plan like crazy, walk everywhere, sleep a little bit, and wonder why the heck America isn't this cool! Truth. Last Thursday Ashley, Janani and I all departed on our adventure to room. A guy associated with CIMBA set up a bus there, since 60+ students were headed there....after an 8 HOUR BUS RIDE we finally got dropped after 9pm at night in the middle of a parking lot outside of room at a train station. We all just stood there for a minute like, what now?! Me, being the super traveler/ momma ellie, along with Ashley who rocked the Metro in Rome, herded everyone and got on our way. We got to our hostel by about 10 pm, and finally started to get settled. We walk into our room and were talking loudly when we noticed we had a room mate- some Indian guy who was passed out cold and snoring....sleeping on the bottom bunk of my bed. Sweeeeeet. We unpacked and mapped out our plan of attack for Friday, and passed out. From here, I think pictures will tell the story best :)

Random Indian guy at our hostel...once again lucked out with the hostel- it worked out well!

First thing on our list was of course the Colosseum...what an incredible place. We bought a Roma pass for 30E, which gave you free admission to two places, able to skip the lines, and free transportation for the weekend. I felt like it paid off. The Colosseum was one of my favorites... you walked out of the metro station and literally BAM it's right there. So much history.

If you read my previous blog that had my english paper regarding the Colosseum, you will understand how overwhelmed I was- so many things have taken place here. For example...the middle part used to be filled with water and they would practice naval battles- pretty cool eh? 

If you can't tell, the weather is absolutely beautiful. It was a great day for sightseeing.

After the Colosseum we headed across the way to the Palatine and the Forum. This is a picture of the Arch de Constantine and the Colosseum.

This was at the Palatine and the Forum...most beautiful fountain I have seen thus far... there were orchids growing out of the top- see the white things?? They also had goldfish- so cool!

The Forum! It would have been an incredible place to see a thousand years ago... I can't even imagine.

After the Forum we headed to see the Capital building- man it was MASSIVE. Notice the flower bed is made to look like an Italian flag...I thought that was cute lol

On to the Pantheon! I thought this was one of the coolest buildings EVER. It is extremely well preserved, and is really right smack in the middle of things. We were wandering aimlessly (well I think in a general direction but all the same) and then there it was! 

After the Pantheon we decided to follow our trusty guide Rick Steves and do his "Heart of Rome" walk (on the way to Trevi Fountain). We saw these nuns walking in front of us, and I was fascinated with the colors they were wearing. I thought nuns usually wore all black, but these wore mostly white with a bright blue sash... any clue what that means? Ya, me neither....

Trevi Fountain! It was PACKED.

I made a wish!

On to the Spanish steps.... although I couldn't really see them...they were covered in people.

Some festival was going on honoring the 160 years of the Italian Police force... no clue what that was about, I just loved this car! 

At the end of Day 1, Friday, we were all EXHAUSTED. By the time we got home from dinner, we had been touring for 12 hours! There is so much to see and do in Rome! We all went back and passed out, and when I woke up at 10 pm my eyes were ridiculously itchy and on fire. I am super allergic to Italy, and I was looking pretty bad....really puffy and  really painful =/ I tried to suck it up, but I caved and Ashley and I went to a pharmacy at 11pm....it was pretty sketch, but I got eye drops and they seemed to help!

The next morning we decided to get to the Vatican area early  just to check everything out. This is the Castel de Saint Angelo, a pretty cool castle/fortress thing. We opted not to go in, and headed to the Vatican instead. You can see the dome in the background!

Saint Peter's Basilica! They were actually holding some kind of service while I was in the square...notice I am rocking the glasses (stupid allergies). I actually had to buy the hat because the sun was super intense and my glasses were only magnifying the rays. 

In total to see the Vatican, I believe I spent close to 30 E...but I would say its worth it. I spent 19 E to reserve ahead of time and skip the line (totally worth it) then 7 E on an audio guide....I would say take it only if you are a history/art buff. I did enjoy it, but at some times it was a bit much.

I thought this ceiling was pretty beautiful. I took tons of picture of statues and paintings, but I was afraid those would bore you....the highlight was the Sistine Chapel of course, and no pictures are allowed in there.

After 3 and a half hours in the Vatican, I needed a pizza. And man, I got a good one. Those are fresh salami slices on there- delicious!

After fueling up we headed back to Saint Peter's Basilica to try to tour the church before it closed. After waiting 45 minutes, we were in! It was well worth the wait...look how ornate the alter is!

Then we paid 8 E (notice how the money disappears in Rome) and climbed the billion stairs to the top of the Dome. It is said that after it was constructed they made a law that no building can be taller...and none appear to be! This is looking out over the city...notice the ominous clouds in the background...

Example of the super tiny and sketch stairs we had to climb- man they made me DIZZY. Can't figure out how to rotate the picture once it is uploaded. Oh well.

After touring for 9 hours that day, I decided to go on my first pub crawl that night...I mean, when in rome right?! I had a BLAST! This is my new friend Lonneke from New Zealand, and Helen from Brazil! 

On Sunday we had a few hours to look around some more, and we decided to go to the Museum Capitolini... I just really liked this statue.

View from the museum overlooking the Forum... WOW.

Everything circled in blue we went to.....23 hours of touring, I would say we did work!

This is kebob...at first I was thinking of our version, but this is actually very similar to a greek gyro, except with spicy sauce. It was FANTASTIC.

We stocked up on fruit at the supermarket for the 8 hour bus ride home, and I just had to take a picture of these shopping carts...They actually have wheels on the bottom- so crazy!

This past week I had papers and tons of reading, as well as planning for this travel weekend and two day trips. My next blog will be about the two towns I visited on Monday and Tuesday, and then about this weekend. Today my group went to Venice, then tomorrow we head to Verona, then to Florence for the rest of the weekend. I am sure lots of pictures will be up by Sunday. Next week is my finals week- the program is coming to a close! Ciao!

quick blurb about school....

I promise I will blog about Rome soon! I will try to get that accomplished in my break tomorrow, if not right after classes in the evening. I wanted to prove that I AM actually being scholastic while I am here....So, for your reading pleasure, I am posting my two essays I have written regarding traveling for my Italian Journeys english class. The first is about an object, and the second is about a place. Since ya'll have seen pictures, I thought some might enjoy reading them!

Essay number 1

Five hundred and twenty-one... five hundred and twenty-two...I took a deep breath and looked back to my fellow comrades. They weren't in much better shape than i was. Sweat was dripping down our backs, our faces flushed, and our muscles groaned with exertion. Just five more steps and we could rest. We powered through to the next round, and stopped alongside the trail that connected the five villages of Cinque Terre. We had finally made it to our next pitstop. I looked at the map (in all Italian of course) and groaned. We had so much more to go. I looked back to my hiking companions and motioned to the left. "Let's go this way- it looks like less steps."

As we wandered down the path to Cornilgia, I kept an eye out for our valued traveling companion- the red and white stripe. Throughout our seven hour hike from Riomaggiore to Monterosso, we searched high and low for the important marking. As with many Italian signs, I have noticed, it was poorly marked and put in places that may seem oh-so-obvious to the native, but ridiculously out of place to the tourist. From rocks to poles to trees and various random objects, we searched for the sloppily painted thick red and white stripe. The red and white stripe meant food, water and rest. The red and white stripe meant salvation.

One particularly frustrating situation that occurred during our perilous journey though the so called trail that connected the five villages of Cinque Terre happened when we had finished the climb from Monterosso to Corniglia. We had just completed the vertical climb (and I do mean vertical- the line on the map signifying the trail was straight up) and were again searching for our savior- the red and white stripe. We were drenched in sweat, out of water, stomachs grumbling and just wanting to get to the next town. We tried to decipher the large map of the trail and decided to choose the trail that would get us to food the fastest. We started our journey, and  began the hike on the foot wide path along the jagged mountain edge entrapped by vineyards. We had not seen the red and white stripe in awhile, and as we opened the gate to someone's back yard, we realized we had chosen the wrong way. To rub salt in the wound, it had begun to rain, and we had to turn back and retrace our steps until we spotted the red and white stripe. It had been painted on both sides of a pole, both pointing in the opposite direction. Because of our previous error, we knew to go the other way this time around.

To the less adventurous tourist, the red and white stripe would mean nothing. If anything, it probably wouldn't even be noticed. But to the tourist who wants to experience all, and really "get the feel for Italy," these red and white stripes represented that we were on the right path. In many places the paint was faded and weathered, showing that this trail endures all kinds of weather. In the seven hours we hiked, we did indeed experience every type of weather imaginable. When we were doing the most difficult portion of the trail, the weather was blazing hot with not a whisper of a breeze. An hour later, when we had a thousand stone steps to descend, the weather changed to gusty winds and a torrential downpour. Now more than ever we were looking for the sacred sign, as we slipped and cursed our way down the mountain. At the end of the day, with soggy socks and aching muscles, we all gave a shout of joy when we saw our last red and white stripe. We had finally arrived to the beach of Monterosso. A glass of wine and a nap on the beach was soon to follow.

Essay number 2

Walking up to the colossal structure takes my breath away. As I am hurriedly digging into my overstuffed purse to find my camera, I glance around at my surroundings. Hundreds of people are swarming the streets, talking on phones and going about their normal business. Is no one else affected by this place? The Colosseum captures my heart when I walk out of the metro station and into the busy city center. I feel like time is frozen as I gaze up at the magnificent ruin, yet everyone else seems to be moving in fast forward.  This isn’t a place that was on my things to see before I die list or even one of the things I am looking forward to most on my trip, yet here I am, in absolute awe.

I climb up the stairs to the first level, my heart pounding in anticipation. I walk out to the first overlook and gasp. I rotate slowly in a circle, taking in the sights of the crumbling walls and sheer magnitude of the Colosseum. I take a hundred pictures of the same view, positive that I must have missed something in the one before, not wanting to lose a single moment in time. I walk slowly around the arena, and I just keep thinking, “Gladiators fought here. Their blood has been soaked into the ground I am walking on.”

I look to my left, and another tourist seems to be having the same moment. Our eyes meet, and a moment of understanding passes between us. Although the Colosseum isn’t a religious structure, there is an aura of reverence that envelopes it.

I walk now to the lower level, and again am taken aback by the size of the Colosseum. Standing in the bottom and looking towards the skies, I can hear the crowds cheering and the loud cries of defeat as another gladiator is taken down. The Roman Colosseum was built in 70 A.D. and was mainly used for fighting, whether man to man or man to animal. I am no history buff, but I cannot help but be overwhelmed by the weight of the history of this place. I continue my walk with the past, and two hours later, walk out feeling much more reverent. I go on to see many more sights; the Pantheon, Forum, the Vatican, the Sistine Chapel and Saint Peter’s Basilica. While the Sistine Chapel is far more beautiful, something about the Colosseum has me enraptured.

Being a traveler at heart, I will tuck away the memories of the Colosseum forever. I have been to some incredible places- the Eiffel Tower, the Louve, Notre Dame, St. Petersburg, Copenhagen, Brazil and London. I will keep all these memories, yet I am unsatisfied. I yearn to be constantly in motion, experiencing new places and making a new path for my future. Choosing one place to say call “my place,” seems absurd to me, although I did for the purpose of this literary work. To me, the place is an abstract thing. It is ever-changing, fluid, and adapting to our interpretation of what we need in that moment. This is why I know I am a traveler at heart- I cannot be satisfied. Looking up to see the Colosseum satisfied me for a day, sure, but I am ready to experience my next place. What could be better than having a moment like I did at the Colosseum a hundred more times as I travel to my heart’s content?  I am ready to live and breathe and experience the place I don’t know I want yet. The anticipation of traveling more leaves me breathless and my mind spinning.  When my insomnia is in full bloom I lay awake in bed, listening to the fan and making a list of where I want to go next. To me, the place isn’t what gives me satisfaction. Knowing that I am going to experience many more places is what does. 

523....524....the longest hike of my life. (cinque terre!)

Ciao! I am sorry to all my readers that I have been MIA since last weekend! I went to Cinque Terre last weekend, and I was SWAMPED with school as soon as I got back. I had two papers due yesterday morning, and a midterm today! It's no wonder why they call this the "summer sprint". I thought I wasn't sleeping at home...I get about 5 hours a night here. There's so much to do and see, and I don't want to miss out on anything. I also did a day trip to Marostica on Monday, went to Asolo last night (where the graduate campus is) and I am heading to Bassano del Grappa tonight. Look up these small mountain towns- especially Asolo. It has so much history. I wish CIMBA had something other than an MBA, because I would TOTALLY do it. I have so many things to tell, so I think it will be best if I go by pictures...

This is just slightly random. Yes, it is a picture of a sandwich, but more accurately, the best sandwich of my life. We have a little one stop shop here in Paderno, called a Tabacchi (sp?) They make these fantastic sandwiches with all fresh cheeses and bread. So yummy. As great as the cafeteria food is, it does get old..

I wasn't sure if I had ever posted a picture of some views of the campus. This is looking out my window to the courtyard and another dorm room.

This is looking out towards the town of Paderno del Grappa...BEAUTIFUL mountains in the background- makes me miss Colorado.

So the first weekend we decided to go to Cinque Terre. Because we are all poor college kids, we usually opt to stay in hostels. This place only 20E a night, and it really wasn't a bad first hostel experience! Abbey and I were in one room with two other CIMBA girls, and Janani, Emily, Maddie and Ashley were in the other.

We all got there and settled and were STARVING from the 5 hour bus ride over. We went to the only restaurant in town, and ordered, yet of course, pasta and wine. We all had fettuchini with homemade pesto- it was to die for. I'm lookin a little rough from traveling at this point...

The next morning we took the 930am shuttle to the first town of Riomaggorio (sp?) This town just felt so Italian to me :) We decided that we were going to do the hike through all five towns, and this was the first stop. When we first got there it was raining, but an hour later it was sunny and beautiful.

The first trail was super easy. It was all along the coast and so beautiful. I felt like such a tourist taking pictures of all the views, but then I saw this local old guy just doing his every day life...fishing on the rocks. I love it.

But, then again, I am such a tourist. This is Monaralo...a pretty famous spot for pictures. Look at the colors of the houses and the water. It would be a great spot for a honeymoon! The next part of the hike was....well, truly terrible. I consider myself in shape, and I was DYING. The trail was from Monaralo to Corniglia, and on the map it was literally a vertical line straight up. I lost track of how many steps after 600. And of course, it was noon and the sun was blazing down of us. We had no food, no water, and zero motivation. It was tough. To rub salt in the wound, we were getting passed by old people with hiking sticks and big backpacks on. Whatever. Also, you will notice that I did not document that part of our journey...no chance in hell. I was inventing new curse words with every step. Yikes.

But we finally made it up the vertical part and into the flat part....in all it took us two hours to get from the second village to the third village. I met this little guy on the flat part- at least he got a smile out of me.

So see that town wayyyyyyy down there?? YEAH, I HIKED ALL THE WAY UP THAT FREAKING MOUNTAIN. In hindsight, I basically feel like a beast. I'm lookin pretty wilty at this point.

Also, the trail was poorly, poorly marked. Just like my adventures of sign spotting in Venice, this was just the same if not worse. The red and white stripe painted on random objects signified the trail, and Janani and I were super excited to spot another one. Also, on the backside of the mountain, it began to rain. I slipped and slid and cursed my way down the shoddy rocky ledges they call steps. Phew. We were all exhausted and ravenous at this point, and we were super happy to have made it to Corniglia. The trail was actually ruined by a mudslide connected villages 3 and 4, so we had to take a train to number 4, Vernezzo. I didn't complain too much about having not to hike...darn.

We were SO stoked to get our pizza- I'm pretty sure we inhaled it.

The hike from Vernezzo to the last town wasn't too bad...The picture above is an example of the damage of the mudslides. If you google Cinque Terre, you'll see that Corniglia and Vernezzo got hit the hardest. So terrible =/

This is looking over the town of Vernezzo. I do believe the picture I posted last week of Cinque Terre was exactly this spot. If you can't tell, the weather hadn't cleared up one bit.

But wow, what a view. And look how high up I am! Also, see the farthest village away??? Yeah, I hiked from there. No big deal.

When we spotted the beach, I think I may have shed a tear of happiness. God was looking out for us too, because within five minutes of arriving, the weather was beautiful. Time to get this girls toes in the water!

The FREEZING ICE COLD water! But, hey, it was so so worth it. 

Then, as if I hadn't had enough hiking, I decided to trek up this rock to get this awesome picture. The guy in the orange shirt is named Ivan. He's our Canadian friend that just joined our group back in Corniglia. How he put up with 4 whining girls on the trails I don't understand. He was a great travel buddy though!

So we all actually ended up falling asleep on the beach- thats how tired we were! We woke up around 630, got some gelatto, then walked back into the town of Monterreso- the 5th village of Cinque Terre. We said our goodbyes to Ivan, then headed back to the beach for dinner. We sat on a balcony overlooking the ocean and had a glass of wine and panani's, then looked at the time. 10 minutes until our train! We booked it to the train station, and waited in line to get our tickets. We watched our first train arrive and leave when we were next in line.....sweet. So we jumped out of line, looked at the map, and made a new game plan. We just needed to get back to our hostel. We got back in line, which of course was longer, and watched our SECOND train leave. We literally had one more option, so I went to figure it out while the other girls stayed in line. We did get it figured out, and made it back to our hostel in one piece. Actually, we met up with some other CIMBA people on the train that were actually in our hostel, and ended up crashing the only bar in Biassa, the tiny town our hostel was in. It was a great night.

.....And then this. Yep, that is a condom machine. I just really didn't know what to say. The next day we went to La Spezia to shop and chill to wait for the bus to pick us up. I ended up buying jeans, a dress, a cardigan, and a swimsuit for 60E, which is a great deal!

Every town, no matter was size, is always so unique. Look at the details on the building on the left. Craziness. It makes me wonder why architecture like this never happened in the US. Its a pity.

I am dead tired at this point and haven't packed for my travel weekend ( I leave tomorrow) orrrrrr done my readings for class. Yikes. There are literally not enough hours in the day. But hey, at least I'm in Italy! I am heading to Rome for the weekend with Ashley and Janani, and I am sure I will have PLENTY of more pictures to come. I did a few other day trips this week to small towns in the Paderno area, and I may include those pictures on the next blog. Ciao!

school, school & more school

My computer won't recognize that my memory card is plugged in, I have 80 pages of reading to do for class in 7 hours, and I still need to pack for Cinque Terre this weekend....This has basically been the story of my life since school started 2 days ago (it feels like weeks ago). I may have to use this blog post to vent for a bit, because I am currently running on 8 hours of sleep in the last 2 nights, and am buried alive under homework/reading. So when I signed up for this gig, I knew that taking two classes would obviously be part of the deal. And I knew that getting 6 credit hours in 18 days was going to be intense- but HOLY LORD I didn't think it would be this intense (and thats coming from a student who loves school). My first night's homework in my Italian Journeys (English class) was reading 98 FREAKING PAGES. It was inhumane at best. I am a good reader, but it still took up 3 hours of my night...I didn't end up going to bed until 2:30am. School here is definitely a main focus of the program too; they take it very very seriously. If you miss one class, your grade drops half a letter grade. If you miss two, it drops a whole letter grade, and three you are shipped back home. So, it's not like I can just sleep in one morning if I feel like it- no such luck. But, all of that being said, as I was on my 45 minute break from 7 am-5pm today, I looked up at the snow capped mountains in the distance and thought, "Wow, I am blessed..." I can already feel myself becoming one giant stressball, but if I just take a minute and look around, and I realize that I am a giant stressball in ITALY, and thats kinda cool.

I have some pictures that I wanted to post about my view from my new room and some general pictures on campus, but unfortunately my computer hates me at the moment, and I just don't have it in me to fight with it tonight. As for plans this weekend, I am headed to Cinque Terre. It is a gorgeous town on the west coast of Italy, right on cliffs and beaches. Look it up for sure!! The weather was in the 80s, and dropped down to the low 60s, but I think it will be 70 this weekend, so hopefully I can break the swimsuit out! I am going with the other girl RAs- Ashley, Janani, Emily, Abbey and Emily's friend. We have a 5 hour bus ride to get there tomorrow, and we'll stay there Friday and Saturday nights and come back Sunday by 9pm. I have two papers due Tuesday morning, so I will be hitting the books hard as soon as I get back. I am sorry this is such a short blog post, but I promise I will have lots to share when I get back this weekend. Buona sera!



This is the town I will be staying in this weekend- WOW!