Belleville!

Hi everybody, I guess this is my last post! Or maybe not, I'm not sure yet. I'm home now; I got back last night. I''m still a little bit in shock and the house looks strange and big, haha. I feel like I'm just on another trip, sort of. But it's great to see everyone and be back here - the dog went CRAZY - even though I'm definitely going to miss Rome and my homestay. This was, I think, the best year of my life. I can't believe it's over! I hope everyone's doing okay- hopefully I'll see you all soon!

Procrastinating, and a scant bit of an update

Oh my gosh guys, I'm so behind!  It's 11.30 Wednesday night and I'm trying to write a philosophy paper (I procrastinated for literally half a day...I watched videos and planned my aunt's trip out here), but I thought, while my brain cools, I'd let everyone know I'm alive!  Lol.  I haven't written anything about spring break - which was awesome! - or my weekend in London - stressful, but still good - but I'm working on it.  I've just been really busy, as I got back April 19 from Prague (the 4th stop on my break- after Brussels, Bruges and Amsterdam) and realized I was leaving for London in four days and hadn't planned a single thing.  Now I'm writing papers and doing crazy amounts of homework and eating yet MORE Easter candy (thanks guys!!) and realizing how very close my departure is!  26 days, people.  It's really amazing just how fast the time has gone, you know?  Like, I haven't seen my parents and siblings in about 4 months, but I feel like it's just been a few weeks, and I haven't seen my extended family in about 8 months, but it feels like I've just been at school for a month or so during the semester, like normal.  I think maybe it'll hit me more once I see everyone and everything again at home.  Which I can't wait to do!  

While we all wait - I sound like an event host, haha - here are a few pictures from spring break!  

This is over a canal in Bruges - very cute city, though luckily I found someone to hang out with, since I think I would have run out of things to do on my own.  Ingrid and I actually rented bikes our second morning and rode 18 kilometers from Bruges to the Belgian sea!  It was really cool, though it was cold and we only spent a little while there.  We made it though!

I have 100 photos of the Keukenhoff Gardens outside Amsterdam in Lisse (I love the name of the town; it reminds me of Alissa's name), but I think this one shows a little bit how almost overwhelming it was.  Everywhere I looked it was stunning, and I didn't want to stop looking for a moment in case I forgot something.  

While I was uploading and editing these photos, my roommate Caroline kept going on about what an amazing camera I had (that, tragically, was lost in Prague- sniff.  more on that later), but my response was that - besides my amazing abilities - I think it's just about impossible to take a bad picture there.  I mean, unless you took a photo of just like, a stone.  But then the stone would probably be so clean and reflective you'd even be impressed with the image!

Okay, I'm having a hard time stopping with the photos.

Okay, I really can't.  Look how pretty!

Okay, this isn't as impressive, but Mom requested a photo of me with the photos, so I figured I'd better comply.  Anyway, ciao, everyone!  

Lugano

I never really wrote anything about Switzerland two weeks ago, but I'm leaving tomorrow for spring break and I thought I'd catch up! First of all, I've been sick since the middle of last week, which accounts for my lack of an update as well as my lack of news from this past weekend. I spent the whole three days in bed watching different TV shows online, lol, since my head hurt too badly for homework (maybe a little conveniently...). I did manage to make it to an Italian soccer game Sunday, though! Very cool, and hopefully I'll be able to go to another before I leave in May.

So anyway, two weekends ago my roommate Caroline and I went to Lugano, in the south of Switzerland, to see her cousin, who had moved there about 20 years ago and lives there still with her two daughters. We couldn't find a Friday flight that would work with Caroline's schedule, so we flew out early early Saturday morning and just came back Sunday evening. I had been a little afraid of it being awkward, since I had never met these people, but it was fantastic! Leslie, Caroline's cousin, picked us up from the station and we had the nicest, most relaxing weekend. She made us chocolate chip cookies that were so much better than our sad attempt a couple months ago. We spent some time Saturday hanging out downtown wandering around, and then we all watched a movie at Leslie's house before dinner - fondue - and getting to sleep.

Oh, so I don't have the photos, but at one point we ran across these little statues of cows in the road. They were decorated one with an apple on its head (means something, not sure), one like Swiss cheese, and one with tools out its back like a Swiss army knife. It was really cute! Anyway, Caroline goes,

"look at those pigs!"
"those what?"
"those pigs?"
"you mean the cows?"
"The cows! Look at the cows!!"

The next day Leslie made us American breakfast!! with pancakes, bacon, toast and everything. It was great. Then we drove to some old fortresses in the area so we could take a look at the valley - which is apparently the same valley that Hannibal came through when he crossed the Alps! Lol, Caroline was not impressed. We also saw a dam where they opened a James Bond movie with people bungee jumping off the side. It was such a relaxing weekend - just like visiting one of my own cousins.

Well, tomorrow I'm leaving for spring break, for Brussels first and then Bruges, Amsterdam and Prague. I'm really excited, though still feeling a little sick, so hopefully it'll clear up and I can enjoy my break. I hope everyone's doing okay! Happy Easter!

Cinque Terre + Lucca

Last weekend I went with my study abroad program to Cinque Terre, along the eastern coast of the peninsula. Every semester we all pick from a couple different places, and then there are weekend trips. Last semester I visited Naples, the Amalfi coast and Pompei. But anyway.

There are five towns - cinque! - that make up the area. It's kind of a little inlet, bordered on each end by a promontory. The towns are absolutely beautiful, naturally. I think it's one of those classic pictures that comes up when you put 'italy' in google. See below:

This is the second town delle Cinque Terre - Manarola. There's really not much to it, but the views from afar are amazing! I think this is the best view I saw that day.

The five towns are Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso. There's a path between the first two that's really famous, called Lover's Lane. We walked down it and I wasn't particularly impressed, because to be honest, the whole place is pretty romantic. Why is just the path special? Lol. We walked that path, and then we 'hiked' between Manarola and Corniglia (my kind of hike, actually. quick and painless). Sadly, there was a rock slide about a week and a half ago, and we had to take a train between Corniglia and Vernazza. So a lot of our walking was cancelled, which I honestly don't think was a problem for anyone, haha. We did miss Corniglia as well, since it's about 300 steps up and then back down again from the train station, so the guide thought it would be better just to skip it. The first three towns seemed more like a novelty thing, a quick look before continuing (fine with me! They were cute) and the last two had a bit more to them.

The fourth town, Vernazza, was where we stopped to have lunch. By this time my friend Lauren and I had been debating how long it would take us to pass out, so it was quite welcome. We ended up going to a little restaurant with a bunch of people, and it was so much fun. Lol, for example, my friend Anthony sat at the head of the table, and there happened to be a reproduction of Leonardo's Last Supper behind him. So he pretended to be Jesus and we all mimicked the figures in the scene for a photo. It was funnier at the time, I promise! The food was fantastic, as Cinque Terre is famous for their sea food (again, this is an overall Italian thing, I feel, lol). After that we were late meeting the group, ran all the way across the town, where one of the advisors had stayed to help us find the group (we called ahead of time), and were promptly led (very quickly!) right back to the piazza in front of the restaurant, where the tour guide was currently explaining stuff (which I didn't listen to a word of, since a couple of us then stuck away and found gelato).

So I don't really have any pictures of Vernazza (too busy eating), but here's another one of Manarola! Pretty, huh?

Monterosso is the last town of the Cinque Terre (which the guide said means five villages, but ACTUALLY means five earths or five fields), and it's the only one with a swimmable (yep, used that word!) beach. I didn't really hang out at the beach like in Positano last semester; instead, Lauren and I went shopping for a shirt for her and for tea! Despite the lovely sun and beautiful sea, it was actually pretty chilly, especially where the wind was allowed to blow. So everywhere, lol. But we found our tea and then wandered around for a while before being herded back to the hotel and to dinner for the evening. But not before we watched a quick soccer match between some local kids and some people from our group. At first the Americans were winning, but after a few minutes of us yelling at them to be nice to the poor kids they took it down a notch. Then they got taken down another notch, because the kids starting destroying them. I really don't think they were doing it on purpose, either.

The next day before driving five hours back to Rome, we stopped in Lucca for a tour, some free time and lunch. Lucca is an old Roman town, much like Pisa. Actually, it's way better than Pisa. There are some gorgeous churches and beautiful towers, and the whole town is surrounded by an old Roman fortified wall. There's now a wide path with room for bikes atop the wall, plus an awesome view. The whole town was very small and cute, and was very 'Italian' without being overwhelming, as I suppose Rome can be sometimes. It's nice to visit little places like that and be reminded that, oh yeah, most Italians won't knock you over to get on the bus. Lol.

Lucca! + flowers

Roman fortress. Try and attack us now, crazy barbarians!

Barcelona

So I've noticed that my post titles have gotten lamer for every post...oh well. It 's a lot of stuff to come up with, you know! Anyway. Last weekend I went to Barcelona! This was one of those places I had wanted to see but kind of just felt, eh, and finally just thought, why not?? and booked a flight. Thank goodness I did, because Barcelona is beautiful! It definitely reminded me of Valencia (I mean, same country), but bigger and more interesting. I was by myself, and just spent the days wandering around the city. It's a lot like Rome in that there's a lot of really unique, beautiful architecture and interesting shops and people, but the streets are broader and more sunny. The weather was excellent, and I wore t-shirts the whole time. I think I may have even tanned a little on my arms! I wasn't really sure what to see when I went, but it turns out that the city has some really cool modern architecture. They're currently building a cathedral by a local architect, Gaudi, and it's absolutely amazing. See below, lol:

La Sagrada Familia

Like I said, the weather was gorgeous. I spent the whole day outside; and I actually had a frappuccino from Starbucks in celebration of spring! Also because it had been a really, really long time, lol. It was glorious. Friday night, at the end of the first day, I hung out with some people from the hostel. We all made our own dinners and ate together, and then tried to go out. It didn't really work, though, since none of us really knew where to go! We ended up having a drink at some bar at 2 am and then taking taxis (which was an ordeal because none of them would take 5 people and it took a while for us to accept that) home. It was pretty fun, though. Oh, so I think my favorite story took place while we were wandering around downtown. We were going down a side street and all of the sudden these Spaniards start yelling and coming up to us. I was a little ahead with my friend Edmund and I tried to glance back, but he kept telling me to hurry up and go! So there was this guy back there basically humping another guy who was with us, trying to get his wallet. It was absolutely hysterical! I mean, maybe not for him, though. Lol, that night I also saw a transvestite and what must have been a hooker. I mean, why else would she have been sitting on that bench like that, alone at 3 am? Oh, and I forgot to mention. I made my own dinner Friday and Saturday. Yay me!

So the next day I woke up and met up with a local girl I had actually met in Greece, on Corfu Island at the hostel. She had been working there and was the only person remotely near my age who spoke English, and we hung out and talked the whole 2 days. Her name is Lina, and she's adorable! I had mentioned to her back in January that I was thinking about visiting Barcelona in March, and luckily we were able to see each other! We had coffee in a calmer, less touristy area, which was very cute, and she gave me some tips on stuff to do. Later that day we met up a second time and went to a free museum featuring an exhibition on a modern Catalan artist. The exhibition, on Joaquim Mir, was fantastic, and it was really cool to see a different kind of art and learn about the Catalan culture. Apparently it's a local thing, and Barcelona is the capital of Catalonia. A lot of the locals speak both Spanish and Catalan, though no one speaks just Catalan. It's just an ongoing effort to keep the culture alive. It's great that there are still people who recognize that kind of thing, and how important it is to keep it going.

So between coffee and the museum, I spent the day wandering around again. I ended up sitting in a park reading for a good part of the afternoon. It was so peaceful; I kept thinking that maybe despite my complete lack of knowledge of the Spanish language and my love of Rome, I could live in Barcelona just to go to that park all the time!

The park! I don't know the name, lol...

The view from where I sat to do my reading! Gorgeous, isn't it? I was sitting there on a bench and all these people came by with their cute Spanish kids, lol. Plus a lot of Spanish tweens...kill me, lol.

I found this little path worn into an area near a church. It kind of felt like the jungle!! Okay, probably not. I think I shame all the jungle explorers by saying that. But I liked it!

There's a famous street market on Las Ramblas where they have souvenirs and random things for sale, and I spent some time each day walking there. They had some absolutely amazing human statues, like gargoyles and headless people, that really put all the mummies and Greek statues here in Rome to shame. They also had flower stalls (again with the flowers, lol) with really cute little mini bouquets and €1 cacti, and there were stalls selling pets! I saw turtles, bunnies, fish, birds, hamsters...it was AWESOME. Well, mostly, since I kept thinking about all the creepy people who can easily buy the animals and mistreat them, and then I was wondering about how the vendors treated the animals during the night. But anyway, lol, cute!!

Flower stall with mini flowers and...

cacti! I cannot imagine how crazy I would go over these if I lived in Barcelona...

Once again, I'm getting this posted right before I leave again, since we're going to Cinque Terre (with my study abroad program) tomorrow. It's basically the Italian equivalent of the French riviera, and is supposed to be breathtaking. But we'll see, especially with all the rain! Ahh, I want Barcelona weather!

Polonia

Ciao tutti, it's a few days late, but I thought I'd tell you all about Poland! I went this weekend somewhat on a whim; I had had a free weekend last month and found some affordable tickets and since they were way cheaper than those I was considering for France, I decided to just go for it! I hadn't really considered visiting Poland, simply hadn't thought of it, but I was really curious, especially since I'd never really heard anything about it. I had a flight Friday, March 6, into Warsaw, and another Sunday the 8th out of Katowice, about 1.5 hours from Krakow. I ended up booking a hostel in Krakow for both nights, and spent the afternoon Friday looking around Warsaw.

I originally considered spending the whole weekend in Warsaw and just skipping Krakow, but I then after doing a little research decided to focus on Krakow. It's apparently the place to see if you're going to Poland, and at the very least, I did spend a few hours in Warsaw. I'd heard about the damage it had sustained during World War II, and how the old town had been painstakingly rebuilt until it resembled almost perfectly it's prior condition. So I flew in last Friday at about 12.30 (I don't have classes Fridays) and took a bus to the train station and immediately got lost. If you've ever heard of the train station in Warsaw, apparently it was specially designed and built a few years ago, and everyone in Poland hailed its efficiency. Then they changed their minds when NO ONE could get around it. To explain a bit, it involves a veritable labyrinth of underground tunnels and two large buildings across from one another. One is a parking/shopping area (so nothing to do with transportation) and the other houses ticket lines and waiting areas. They are connected by the tunnels, which also have several other openings, and you access the train platforms through the tunnels. Now I get it! But honestly, I wandered around for the longest time trying to figure out what I was doing, lol. I finally bought a train ticket for Krakow that evening and then (painfully) found a bus stop for the center so I could see what all the fuss was about.

Well, then, while on the bus, I asked a girl who spoke decent English if I was on the right bus. She told me, no, you need a different one and you'll have to walk a long way from the end of the line. I started wondering if it was even worth seeing Warsaw, and if I should just go back to the ridiculous train station and wait. I rode the train to the end of the line and after wavering for a few moments, resolved to find the center if it was the last thing I did! I walked across the square towards where my guide book claimed the main road to be, found it, turned to my left, and there it was. Long way my butt.

The old town was really beautiful, and had amazing charm. The weather, though cold, was comfortable and extremely beautiful and clear. I walked around for a while and got yelled at by Polish guys (it's the same, really, everywhere you go. oi.). It was just really cool, kind of like a colorful old maze, and it was nice after a stressful week trying to get all my work done to have time to just wander and look.

My first view of old Warsaw (or Warszawa)

Square in the center of the old town

That evening, I took a train from Warsaw to Krakow, or Cracovia. I got in about 8, yet didn't make it to the hostel until almost 10 because of yet another labyrinthine train station. Everyone at the hostel was really friendly, but after everything that day I just went straight to bed. I generally just book a bunk in a dorm because it's cheaper, so I had several roommates, though none were there. The next morning, however, I was rudely awoken by a group of Spanish guys returning from their night out at 7 am. I tried rolling over and flailing about so they'd notice me and quiet down, but that lasted about 30 seconds. Finally they went to bed, but not before I managed to catch a glimpse of them in their tight European underwear. Lovely.

That morning I went out to explore, and just wandered around the city for a while. There are some absolutely gorgeous churches there, and the whole city is full of character, much like Krakow. One of my favorite parts was the Czartoryskich Museum (say that 3 times fast), which has Da Vinci's Lady with an Ermine, along with Rembrandt's Landscape with the Good Samaritan and a few really remarkable post-impressionist works. In the central square (the largest town square in Europe!) there is an old town hall building that holds an art gallery on the 2nd floor and at street level is an open air market. It was really adorable, and the goods were really unique compared to what I've seen elsewhere in Europe. For example, they had adorable carved wooden jewelry boxes and toys, and after going back to the square 3 times to look at everything, I finally caved and bought a little blue box. It's so cute! And has a little key! Lol.

That evening I had intended to go to a Mozart and Chopin (I never realized he was Polish!) concert at a church I'd visited, but I changed my mind when the weather took a turn for the worse. I also met a girl at the hostel, Lisa, and we hung out most of the evening. Honestly, hostels are really what makes traveling alone possible, I think. During sight-seeing and the actual traveling part, it can be pointless and even annoying having companions, but it's nice meeting people with different backgrounds. I've collected a lot of random emails, and this weekend in Barcelona (I know, it's exhausting! But I'm psyched! Gorgeous weather!!) I'm meeting up with a girl I met in Greece who lives there, Lina. But anyway, Lisa (who is Australian, and hilarious) and I ended up going down to the hostel's bar and hanging out with a couple others who didn't want to go outside. I also ran into the Spaniards from that morning, lol, who apologized, bought me a drink and collectively proceeded to flirt with me throughout the evening. They were absolutely hilarious, especially since they kept unconsciously lapsing back into Spanish so that it almost gave me a headache talking to them!

Sunday wasn't extremely interesting; I left early for Katowice and spent the afternoon doing homework and killing time before my flight out. I decided even before I left Krakow, though, that I'm absolutely going back someday. I mean, I say that about every place I visit, but it was just so different from everywhere else I've been! Cheaper, too. I'm actually thinking now about saving money for a while and then spending some time traveling in eastern Europe. I'm going to Prague next month over spring break, but there's so much else to see! Plus, I love how cheap it is. Perfect for me, lol.

Town square: on the ground through the arches is the market.
Also on the square were groups of stands selling flowers.
After all the rain and cold, I've been getting unnaturally
excited when I see flowers. Yay! Pretty!

Wawel Cathedral, part of Wawel Castle,
where the Polish monarchy ruled from.

St. Mary's Church on the town square,
and on the right...flower sellers!! Yay!

O Valencia

Hi!! I know it's again been quite a while, but in my defense, at first there wasn't anything to say (it would have been boring) and then I was really busy. So there. But it's now March! It's going so fast, and I'm both sad that my year is this far along and enjoying being in the city with so much experience, knowing my way around and such. It's still pretty rainy and cold, but yesterday we had an absolutely gorgeous day and my new roommate Caroline and I went to a beautiful park to study. I didn't make it out running yesterday and instead went today in the drizzle, which was actually nice, since I've not run since before Christmas, I think, lol.

Well, about a month ago the new students for the spring semester arrived, and everything's been pretty hectic since. Caroline was stuck in London for a few days with about 40 other students from our program when London had it's "epic" snow (like 2 inches, and they closed the airports), but finally arrived a day and a half late, and then we had a week of orientation followed by my second "welcome" trip to Assisi and Perugia. We then had a week of intensive Italian, followed by the first week of classes! My schedule's a little hectic, at least for me, as I have early class every morning. I'm going to have problems in the real world, lol. But I'm compensated, I feel, by having Fridays off, allowing me to travel more easily and to just have a longer break each week. I really enjoy it; I slept all day Friday and felt so relaxed Thursday night! It was kind of crazy last week because I had a lot of reading and was choosing classes to register for next semester at Mizzou (which, when your advisor doesn't want to be helpful, gets pretty frustrating), but it felt amazing Thursday evening to know I had an extra day to just relax.

So, last weekend I went to Valencia, Spain. This was kind of a random decision; in December when I got back from Sicily I was looking at plane tickets for the spring, thinking about where I wanted to go, and I found a cheap flight to Valencia. I don't really know anything about it (or about Spain in general), but I thought, why not? and booked it! It was kind of crazy, since I left Thursday evening after my first week of classes, but the city was absolutely beautiful and the weather was amazing. It was such a great getaway from the crazy (and cold and wet) city. I only did two days, arriving Thursday evening and leaving Saturday evening, but with its size I feel like that was perfect. Valencia was lovely, with flower vendors in the main square and beautiful old buildings. There are art museums everywhere and I was able to visit a few with discounts (student!) or even free. In the main cathedral there is the only recognized (albeit tentatively) actual Holy Grail. The church is amazing and huge, and I've really developed a great respect for Spanish art. Valencia is very old, as well, having been a Roman settlement, so there's a lot of history concerning Europe's development that I'd never heard about. And it was cheap (bonus!), especially where the hostel and transportation were concerned. When I was tired of wandering around the sites, as well, I went and hung out in a park. There's one that stretches, king of like a river, all through the city. And it's beautifully well-kept, and there are museums and recreational areas built within it. After my visit, I'm twice as excited to go to Barcelona in two weeks! (after Poland, next weekend. But hopefully I'll just write about that next week)

Vendors in the main square, Plaza del Ayuntamiento

The cathedral of Valencia

The Holy Grail!! It looks fancy, but the base and handles were added later. I'm still not sure, though.

One of the museums in the park (far image) and an indoor garden. I don't really know what's up with the futuristic architecture, but it is pretty cool. There are several structures, built together, and they're actually pretty mind-blowing. These buildings, of course, were the exception. I haven't seen anything like this anywhere before.

Oh, the title of this entry is from a song by the Decemberists. It's kind of part of the reason I decided to go, lol. Good song!

Grecia!!

I’m on the train back to Rome, from what turned out to be a lovely week in Greece! My ferry arrived in Bari this morning at about 9.15, and I took the first train available (not til 1.44, lol). Despite the boredom, I had a fantastic time, and am really happy I changed my plans at the last minute and decided to go.

Originally I had booked a plane ticket for Bari, way back in November, when I was planning to spend a week or so traveling in the south, to see some places that you normally don’t hear about, like Lecce or Taranto. As time went on and I tried to plan the trip, it got shorter and shorter as I did research on locations and found them not worth visiting or without accommodation, or other issues. Then two weeks ago I spend the weekend in Venice (which was gorgeous! I loved it), and met a girl who had been traveling for a while. While I was there, she booked a place and left on a ferry to Greece. My roommate from first semester did the same last summer, and once Bonnie told me her plans, I found myself really, really wanting to take a ferry ride (turns out they’re not that great. Cheap, but that’s about it). So instead of the south, I used my plane ticket to connect with a ferry on Jan. 15, which then placed me in Patras, on the top of the lower peninsula, on Jan. 16. This was actually not the plan, as I had intended to end up in Igoumenitsa, further northwest, and start my trip on Corfu Island. So I spent an extra day getting to the island, but the long bus ride just allowed me to see more of the country. I had a great time, quiet and relaxing, in Corfu. I was there two nights, in a hostel maybe 100 yards away from the beach and with the sea visible from my room. It was much quieter than I had anticipated, since part of the reason I like to stay in hostels is the chance to meet different people, but it was fun to talk to the family who ran the establishment. I also made friends with the Russian/Spanish girl who worked there, and if I can, I might go see her in Barcelona in the spring!

Corfu

After Corfu, I had planned to go to a town called Kalambaka that my roommate had mentioned, where there was a mountain bordering the town, and it was popular for hiking and visits to the monasteries built on the peaks. Traveling is kind of a pain is Greece, however. They don’t have an easy train network like in Italy and elsewhere, that can get you pretty much anywhere in the country easily. There are only a few train lines, and none in the west, where I was. So I had to take different buses all day, from Igoumenitsa to Ioannina to Trikala and finally to Kalambaka, where I stayed in a little B&B at the base of the mountain. The town was really adorable, small, navigable and quiet. Way different from Patras and the other places I’d stopped thus far. The morning after, I took the trail up the mountain. Now, I am not a nature girl. But I had such a wonderful time that day. At first, I thought I was going to die, going up the initial trail. But I reached the part that connected with the natural road going through the mountain, and everything changed. I visited one monastery (where they made me wear a skirt over my jeans), and just spent the entire afternoon walking and thinking and admiring the view. I took a ridiculous amount of pictures, I’m sure, and took a break about every ten minutes to just watch. I’ve been incredibly lucky with the weather, and the only days where it was even questionable, I was on trains or buses. That day and the day I went to the acropolis, especially, were beautiful.




My third and final destination was Athens. I hadn’t intended, at first, to go, since I’ve heard all about how nasty and cliché and so on it is, but I felt it was my duty as a history major, former Latin student, Greek mythology buff and classics enthusiast (so basically, I pretty much had too) to go. I’m glad I went, though getting there was much more difficult than I anticipated. For some reason, the main road into the city was closed that day, and though I was able to get a bus (trains aren’t much better, apparently. I was advised not to take the train), it had to go through alternate routes, adding several hours onto the trip. I finally made it at about 10, and had to take a taxi to my hostel, because of the late hour and distance. So the taxi driver is like, oh, that area, 20 euros! And I was like, you’re kidding, right? But he wasn’t backing down and I needed to get to the hotel, so I agreed to 15. Then I got into the car and realized I was out of money, and only had 8. I told him and he laughed, and took it. But when I got into the hotel and mentioned it, the receptionist told me the fee probably should have been closer to 3 or 5! You see? This is why I hate taxis. Glad I spent all my money ahead of time, though, lol.

I only had one full day in Athens, during which I planned to do all the traditional sightseeing. It worked out perfectly, actually; I left the hotel about 11 and made it back about 5.30, and saw everything I had wanted to, plus some new things, and was able to talk to some people and see what the city was like. The metro system there, apparently redone for the Olympics in 2004, is excellent, and I got around on 2 euros all day. In London, a single trip, one place to another, is 4 pounds! Robbery. I went to the acropolis first, which was gorgeous. The weather was perfect, as I said (I left my coat at home for the first time since October. The locals said it was cold, though, lol), and the monuments looked like they were moving against the sky as the clouds passed. I finally saw the Parthenon, which, despite the scaffolding and damage, is as impressive and powerful as everyone says. The view from the acropolis of the city is amazing. It just keeps going, as far as you can see! I had no idea Athens was so huge. Apparently half of Greece’s population is there, 5 of 10 million. I also went to the agora, and saw a few more famous pieces that have survived. I won’t go too much into detail, since a lot of it I hadn’t even heard of, but I thought one piece was kind of funny. There’s a temple that was begun by King Theseus, but not finished for 6 hundred years, when the Roman emperor Hadrian had dominion over the city. There’s an arch near the temple that says on one side ‘This is Athens, the city of Theseus.’ On the other side, it says ‘This is the city of Hadrian, not Theseus.’ Oh, the Romans…




I left Athens early the next morning for Patras, to catch my ferry back to Bari. I had to suffer through more rain, but I made it on board and was able to upgrade, very cheaply, to a cabin! On the way to Greece I had an airplane style seat, and slept on the floor in the lounge. Believe me. Get the cabin. We arrived this morning in Italy, and here I am, on the train! Taking up all the outlets near my seat as I charge the computer and my phone. Lol. Hope everyone’s doing well! Ciao!

Xmas 2008 (and, you know, Europe)

Hi everybody! I know it’s been a while, I’ve had a lot going on, with a few days of constant sleep thrown in. But I’m actually sitting in Bari right now writing this, getting ready to board a ferry this evening for Greece! Long story, lol.

But I’ve left out a lot over the past month or so, so let me catch up. I finished the semester with IES and said good-bye to everybody the week of Dec. 17, and started getting ready to meet up with my family in London for Christmas. I said good-bye to my roommate Kelsey, which was really sad (and now there’s nobody to shame me into getting up at a decent hour in the morning, among other things), but was excited to get to London and see Mom, Dad, Alissa and Andrew again! I don’t think I did anything that weekend but run around trying to pack ridiculously early, watch online TV (right after exams – I think I deserved it!) and eagerly anticipate Tuesday, December 23, when I could fly to London and meet up with everyone at Gatwick airport. Well, it didn’t exactly go according to plan. I stayed up the entire night with Kelsey before she left early on the 22nd, partly because I wanted to keep her company and partly because I really wanted to watch Heroes, and when I returned from the airport with Ermete after dropping her off I could already sense a cold coming on – headache, sore throat, sinus issues. It sucked. Then, while trying to sleep for roughly 24 hours to fend it off, I got in contact with my parents, on their way from St. Louis to Cincinnati to London to meet me the next day. Over time, their flights became more and more delayed to the point where when I turned off the light for the last time, I knew I would be spending the first night of our vacation in a hostel waiting for them to arrive.

Annoying as it was, I did find a decent hostel and got a good night’s sleep waiting for everyone on the outskirts of London, getting up at the crack of dawn on Christmas Eve to try Airport Meeting Take 2. This worked out, thankfully, and despite the exorbitant amount of luggage we lugged across London (NOT blaming anyone, lol) and the holiday closures (really annoying), we had a really good time. Our Christmas dinner consisted of sandwiches and organic sunflower seeds, but was still silly and fun while we exchanged gifts set below the hand-drawn Christmas tree I’d made in Rome. As I said, a lot of things were closed (including public transportation), but we still did a nice walking tour that included Westminster Abbey, Westminster Cathedral, the houses of Parliament (with Big Ben, right, Andy?), the Thames (That’s TEMS, Dad), Buckingham Palace and Hyde Park. I think one of my favorite memories might be Dad walking out into the street while the guards were riding towards us on their horses and getting yelled at. Also Andrew’s very tall hat, ala Joey from Friends. Oh, and Mom accidentally knocking into the open DVD player and breaking it, and upon reporting this problem to the hotel, being told that ‘none of the rooms have DVD players.’ Oh, and I have to mention, for Mom, that we stumbled upon Westminster Cathedral on Christmas day and were able to attend mass there. I know she was really excited about it, and even Dad behaved! Sadly, I don’t have a lot of pictures of London, since I was there a few years ago and took enough pictures for a small army of photographers. I left that to everyone else.

On the 26th we headed from London to Paris, via international train. I don’t mind trains (I actually enjoy the excuse to sleep in the middle of the day), but apparently this wasn’t the best train experience for my travel companions. Something about the air pressure in the tunnel under the English Channel? Perhaps. Lol, but we made it to the station (Oh, also we found the point at King’s Cross between platforms 9 and 10 where Harry Potter boarded the train, Platform 9 ¾. Yes, there’s a sign. Very popular with silly tourists like us, lol), onto the train, and to Paris. I wasn’t really prepared for how large and confusing Paris’s main station would be. It took a while to get out of there, but after about 2 or so hours of again dragging luggage through a major European city, we made it to the hotel, which, despite the slightly annoying receptionist (No one was with me on this, but he drove me crazy!), we all loved and was very nice. It was in a lovely area, within walking distance of the Arc de Triomphe and Concorde Street (the famous one with the trees that is about 2 miles long). I think we all enjoyed Paris the best, at least partially because there were buses and trams to take and things were open!

Once I found my bearings and a map of the city, Paris was easy. All the main sites are in the same area (generally the case, which is why London was doable without transportation), and in one day we found the Louvre (the building! The Louvre deserved an entire day), the Tuileries gardens, Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, the Seine, and really fun Eiffel tower key-chains. We had a bus tour that took us to some lesser known, more difficult to find monuments, but I think it worked out perfectly, with our wandering first and seeing what we liked and having it reinforced afterwards. On our second day (we had two and a half days, not counting the day we arrived), we took a train out to visit Versailles, the old palatial home of France’s royalty. Marie Antoinette ruled from here with her husband, and it was from here that she and her family were captured and taken to Paris as prisoners until her execution. It was a lovely day (though cold. France is very cold.), and we were able to see the exquisite apartments of the royal family and the extensive gardens. The following day, the day of our evening departure for Rome aboard an overnight train, we spent at the Louvre. Pretty self-explanatory, I’m sure, but it was excellent. I couldn’t believe the amount of pieces I had studied in school, without even realizing their location. It was well worth the cost and time required, and everyone enjoyed it. Even Dad and Andrew, who took quite a few photos of the weapons, armor and the like on display. We saw the Mona Lisa! And were smashed into the railing with the hundreds of other people attempting to photograph it with their phones and such. After the Louvre, we found our way (again, with the luggage. It was such a remarkable accomplishment, I feel, carrying everything across Europe, that it merits repeated mentioning) to the station once again, and departed Paris at about 7 pm for Rome!

Little boy running at the pigeons outside Notre Dame. I think the extremely old cathedral adds to the effect. Don't you?

The Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. Among other things, this was the location of Marie Antoinette's wedding.

I really feel the overnight train is such an experience to deserve at least a mention, so here goes. It was kind of fun, like camping, but I would much rather be camping (and that’s saying something)! The cabin, when we found it, appeared to be too small for three people, let alone six, and once all the beds were pulled out I felt like I was in prison. But once we were asleep the ride went pretty quickly, so I guess for what it is, it’s fine. It was pretty funny, though, watching everyone try to climb into bed and get ready to sleep (since most of the bathrooms on board were, for most of the night, locked. Turned out that was a blessing in disguise. I still shudder to think of those bathrooms!). In comparison with a day trip (13 hour day trip), this was much preferable, considering the reduced cost and inevitable boredom.

So finally, we made it to Rome. After the train, it took a while to recoup, but overall in Rome we covered a lot of ground. Since I know where I’m going pretty well, I think we saw pretty much every one of the main sights, plus a few things that I’ve grown to like while I’m here. We did the Vatican of course (well, St. Peter’s Square. Long lines.), the Colosseum, the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, some very famous churches, and more I can’t even think of. We actually covered all the monuments listed in Angels and Demons (prequel to The Da Vinci Code) by Dan Brown, if anyone’s familiar. It was really nice to be back where I was comfortable and knew what I was doing, and could speak the language. We also were able to spend time with my host family as well! They had a party for New Year’s and we attended. It was pretty hilarious, and strange watching Mom and Dad especially try to eat the unknown food, all the while being polite (I have that problem a lot. Sabrina and Arturo, the parents, like to experiment with cooking). But we all danced and had a fantastic New Year’s Eve.

The Friday we were in Rome, two days before everyone left, we took a day and went to Florence and Pisa. Now, this is difficult, since there are three different train speeds you can take to get to Florence: slow, medium and fast. However, the price rises about 12 euro with each speed. In order to make it affordable with five people, we woke up at 5 to make a slower train that would still arrive fairly early in the city. It worked out, and we all spent time sleeping on yet another train. Florence, despite our limited time there – roughly three hours – was lovely. I absolutely loved it the last time I was there, and I was happy to have an excuse to go back. We did a quick sightseeing tour – the duomo, the Arno River, the Courtyard of the Uffizi – and arrived in San Lorenzo market, where we all had a great time looking around the stalls (I also greatly enjoyed this shopping portion on my last trip to Florence. Who wouldn’t?). At about 1.30 we tore ourselves away from the market and caught a train for Pisa. Now, there’s not much in Pisa (No one listened to me when I told them this beforehand. Apparently the Leaning Tower is up there on tourist lists, with the pyramids or something. Completely trumps the colosseum, lol.). I was kind of skeptical about going, but I was majorly overruled, and I must say, while I still don’t quite get it (They could fix it! But they would lose money), it is a lovely building. It’s in a field called the Campo dei Miracoli (the field of Miracles), and there’s also a church and, I believe, a baptistery. Like the duomo, they are all, even the tower, beautifully decorated and lovely to behold. So I enjoyed myself. I think even if they hadn’t screwed up building the tower, the field would have been somewhat famous, since it really was lovely. So go see it! Lol.

There it is. Leaning. Like it's trying to creep around and get in the front of the picture.

Overall, I think everyone enjoyed the food in Italy the most. The pizza is amazing, and I think we had it at least once a day (we went to one restaurant twice, because Mom and Dad really liked it. They remembered us. It was really embarrassing.). Oh, and I think for the first time I witnessed Mom eat ice cream. Or gelato, actually. I guess Italian gelato is just superior! Haha.

I’m typing this in Bari waiting for my ferry to leave for Greece, and it’s about 2000 words, so I’m going to wind it up. I hope everyone had a great holiday season! Happy New Year! Ciao!