Paris for Easter, and Visitors in Rome!

I know it's been a while since my last post...I apologize, and hope to fill you in on everything now! Holy Week was the week of my Spring Break, so I stayed in Rome for the first part, enjoying the beautiful weather and parks near my apartment (things I don't necessarily have time for with my classes) and took in all the traditions. The church right near my apartment says Palm Sunday Mass outside, and then the congregation parades around following the priest, carrying their palms. Holy Thursday I was picking up my friend from the train station, and we walked by San Giovanni in Laterano, where we saw the procession of Swiss Guard and cardinals crowding on to Coach buses, and I remembered that the Pope says Mass there on Holy Thursday! Literally 5 minutes down the street from my apartment!

The next morning, I left for Paris, where Patrick and I met up for the weekend. The first night we walked around and went to the Seine River for a dinner cruise...the food was delicious, and Paris at night was a beautiful sight! Here is a picture of us in front of the lit up Eiffel Tower after our cruise:

The rest of the weekend, we went down our list of things we wanted to do in Paris, and checked off quite a few of them. We went to Notre Dame (where there was a beautiful rainbow...one of the perks of the weather not being so great while we were there), and climbed the towers to get a beautiful view of the city (despite the clouds...you can barely make out the Eiffel Tower). We also went to the Louvre, but they closed early because it was so crowded. The city as a whole was extremely crowded because it was Easter weekend, and we spent a lot of time waiting in lines. We also went to the Eiffel Tower, where the top deck was closed (it seemed like that was just our luck that weekend, but we decided to at least go up to the second floor) until we got to the ticket counter, and they opened it up. The weather was nicer, too, so we got some great views of Paris.

The next weekend, Patrick came to Rome again, since he didn't get to spend a lot of time here the first time. This time, we went to the Vatican Museums and saw the Sistine Chapel (this was my first time going to the chapel since I got here), climbed to the top of Castel Sant'Angelo where we got a beautiful view of Rome:We also saw the Pantheon, which is where Raphael's tomb is located. A few days after Patrick left, Mom and Dad came to visit as well! They got in early Friday morning, and I've had an action-packed trip planned for them ever since! The first day they were here, I took them to the Colosseum and the Roman Forum, and showed them around my neighborhood, then we went to get them settled into their hotel. Saturday, we spent a few hours in the Vatican Museums, then went to visit St. Peter's Basilica, walked by the Pantheon and through Piazza Navona. Sunday we went to Latin Mass in St. Peter's, then went to the Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, and Campidoglio and the Capitoline Museums. Today they're off to Naples and the Amalfi Coast, then they go to Assisi on Wednesday, and travel to Florence and Venice before they return on Sunday night.

I'll post pictures of my parents here as soon as I upload them to my computer (hopefully later on today), and I'll try to get better at uploading more regularly, although I realized today I have only a little over 4 weeks left, which is crazy! Ciao for now!

Frankfurt, Venice, and More!

I've been extremely busy the past few weeks, but hope that I'll be updating my blog more regularly as time goes on--I'll be making much more of an effort to do so! The first weekend of March, I met up with Patrick in Frankfurt, and we had a good time, exploring the city, then taking a tour and trying some of the local flavor. It was a good change from what I'm used to, with skyscrapers and more recent history, and I enjoyed it very much!

Last weekend, I went on a field trip with IES to Venice, and it was everything I imagined Venice would be and more! We went on a "bullet train", so we departed from Rome in the morning, and got to Venice 4.5 hours later. I took over 250 pictures over the course of the weekend, because I found the view breathtaking from almost every bridge I went over:


The first day we got to Venice, we went on a tour of the Jewish quarter (the oldest one in Rome), and then had some free time before dinner, so we decided to go on a gondola ride at sunset! After bargaining with the gondolier, we got him to lower his price a bit, and we enjoyed a nice 45 minute gondola ride. In this picture, you can see me, my friend Kristen, one of my roommates, Jeanine, and my friend Amanda (as well as the gondolier in the background):

We enjoyed our dinner very much that night, having pumpkin and mushroom risotto; steak, potatoes and vegetables; and then something unknown, but absolutely delicious for dessert! IES took us out to dinner both nights that we were in Venice, and it was fantastic both nights!

The next day, we went to Piazza San Marco, where we went on a tour of Palazzo Ducale and the Basilica di San Marco, and then we went to the Rialto Bridge as well--a bridge with shops on either side of it (because obviously, who can cross a canal without shopping on the way?). This picture is of Piazza San Marco:

That afternoon, we took a ferry to the islands of Murano (known for its glass) and Burano (known for its lace). I am extremely happy that we did this, because it's something I would not have known to do if I hadn't gone with IES, yet it was my favorite part, and something I recommend everyone do. We watched a glassblowing demonstration at Murano, and then had about an hour to walk around Burano, taking in the "multicolored fisherman houses" and little shops there:

My roommate, Jeanine, and me on a bridge in Burano:

For dinner tha night, we had seafood (the first time I've really had seafood since I've been here) in the form of seafood lasagne, then seafood pasta, a fish dish, and "essi" cookies for dessert. I never knew that the cookies in the shape of an "S" originated in Burano! I remember eating them for breakfast sometimes at home.

Things haven't been too exciting since I've been back...I had my Italian oral presentation yesterday, and I have my Italian midterm exam today. My area study midterms are all next week, so this weekend will be full of studying (hopefully outside, as the weather is supposed to be nice), but then I have spring break the week after that! I'll try to update again soon...Ciao for now!

Baile Atha Cliath (Dublin)

This past weekend I was planning on going on a trip to Nice and Monaco, but my plans changed, so I decided to fly to Dublin for the weekend to visit Patrick. It was his birthday yesterday (Monday), so I got in touch with the Wheaton girls in his program, and we worked out a way to get me there and surprise him for his birthday. I've been in Rome for a month, and I was thinking it was about time to do some exploring, and Dublin was definitely the perfect place for that! Patrick was very surprised (and happy) to see me, and it's nice having a tour guide who's been studying the literature and history of the place you're visiting!

I flew out late on Thursday night, so Friday we walked around the city a bit. It was a decent temperature (although a bit colder than Rome), and the sun even managed to make it out for a bit! Here are a few pictures from our first day's walk:

Trinity College:

Garden of Remembrance:

We also went on a tour of Dublin Castle, and went to the Old Jameson Distillery. At the Dublin Castle, we got to go on a tour of the grounds, and see the government building as it is today, as well as the excavations underground to show how the castle was in the past:

The Birthday Boy enjoying his complimentary whiskey:

I'm planning to make it back to Ireland in April, but visit more of the countryside on that trip (and maybe the Guinness factory, as I did enjoy my pints of Guinness this past weekend). As for this week, I've got classes through Thursday, then I'll be heading to Frankfurt for the weekend! After my field studies I might upload some pictures to show you what my classes have been like. Ciao for now!

And so it begins...

So I've been extremely busy for the past week, and haven't had the chance to update my blog, so here goes! Last week I had 2 hours of Intensive Italian every day, so we learned a lot of conversational Italian, and I can now hold a short conversation at a cafe, or a grocery store, and I'm still learning more, of course! This week we started classes, and I love them all! Typically the way our classes are set up is we have lecture for an hour, and then a two hour field study later on in the week. My Roman Architecture and Urban Design class went on a field study to Castel Sant'Angelo yesterday, where I saw the most BEAUTIFUL view of Rome (despite the rain), and today my Ancient Rome: History and Myth class went on a field study to the Forum Boarium, which was extremely interesting, as we learned all about things I casually ride by on my way home from school without thinking twice--now I know how cool they are! I'm also taking Social Issues in Southern Italy, as well as Issues in the Contemporary Roman Catholic Church.


This past weekend Patrick came to visit from Dublin. Unfortunately, his flight was cancelled on Thursday night so he spent the night in the Frankfurt airport, and I was nervous Friday morning when it started snowing in Rome--for the first time since 1986! It's been raining here a lot, and all the natives talk about how it's never like this...so hopefully it will get better! Regardless, it was a beautiful day on Saturday, and Patrick and I went all over, visiting St. Peter's Basilica (where the ceiling is my favorite part):




Vatican City:

Trevi Fountain (Patrick has a better picture on his blog...):

Spanish Steps:

and Colosseum...at nighttime AND during the day!

All in all, it was a great weekend, and I'm looking forward to having more visitors to Rome (in case anyone wants to join...) The more I learn in my classes, the more I know and can't wait to tell! I'm also learning more about the buses---still how unreliable they are! Today our bus was the most crowded I've ever seen it, there were about 40 elementary school children on it, it took about 30 minutes to get to our stop, and THEN we got a flat tire, so we walked the rest of the way to our field study. Thankfully we knew where we were going, and as long as the weather holds up, I plan on walking home tonight for the first time. It's about 55 degrees outside, so really quite nice! I've also planned a trip to Nice and the French Riviera next weekend with my roommates and some other girls who live near me, so I'm looking forward to that! I'll do a better job of updating now that I'm in the groove of things!

Apartment Tour

I decided to leave a video with a little tour of the apartment, since I'm the only one home right now. My classes are going well so far, I have Intensive Italian from 3-5 every day, and different Advising meetings or meetings to figure out my Permit to Stay in the mornings. Today I was done by about 10:00, so I decided to come home and check out the Farmer's Market to pick up some produce (we already have "our stand", where the guy peels clementines for us while we wait, and places extras of whatever we get in our bags once we've paid, just to keep us coming back), and have lunch at home!

Pictures, Finally!

The corner of the building where my classes are:

Castel San Angelo, literally right across the street from IES:

St. Peter's Basilica, with Nativity Scene and Christmas tree:

Vatican City, about a 10 minute walk from where I have classes:

The Colosseum, about a 15-20 minute walk from my apartment...we pass by it every day on my way to school:

The Roman Forum, about 5-10 minutes from my apartment:

The view from the balcony of my bedroom:

The bedroom I share with Margherita, my Italian Student Companion:

Orientation

I've been in Rome for four days now, and have had an excellent time! Minus the fact that my Internet STILL isn't working (it takes a while to fix broken things here, but IES is doing all they can to fix it, and if not, to make other accommodations for us), I'm having an excellent time! The past few days have just been normal Orientation meetings, about safety, health, our program, and everything. Our school is literally right across the street from Castel San Angelo, so the first day, we had a two hour break between meetings, and a few of us walked over to the Vatican and explored a little bit. The next day we had a break so I walked to the bookstore (right near the Spanish Steps--although I was not aware of this at the time) and bought my Italian books.

Yesterday we had a tour of the different neighborhoods of Rome--we went near the Colosseum, and explored a few churches in the area. We first stopped at "San Pietro in Vincoli", which means St. Peter in Chains, and inside is the "Mausoleo di Giulio", a sculpture of Moses made by Michelangelo, as well as the chains that Peter wore when he was in prison. Our next stop was the Basilica di Santa Maria in Domnica, which is about a 7th century church with a Greek mosaic inside, dating to about 800 AD. The columns from this church, as well as many of the other churches of the time, were stolen from the ancient ruins, and just moved to the church. The next church we went to was Santo Stefano di Rotundo, which is one of the only completely in-the-round churches in the world. On the walls of the church were paintings of early martyrs and how they died--after Charles Dickens visited, he said he had nightmares of the images for weeks...I've been slightly luckier thus far! The last church we visited was San Giovanni e Paulo, which was built over where they were burned, as well as an underground village. When we walked in, we found a cat sitting in the church, as well as many beautiful chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. The priest was also kind enough to take us to see part of the village, which is normally something you have to pay to do. We ended up doing quite a bit of walking (as is customary), especially since the buses were on strike yesterday! They will still run during rush hours, but less frequently/not at all otherwise. We've been told that it's easy to master the bus system here in Rome, but you'll always be guessing!

The past few nights, we've gotten together with some girls who live in our neighborhood. Wednesday we went for a walk, Thursday we had a cooking lesson from our ISCs, Margherita and Valentina, (pasta with zucchini and shrimp, as well as forna rustica), and last night we just walked around our neighborhood. Tonight we plan to see what Carnevale festivities are going on in Roma (there is an opening parade, and many activities over the course of the next few weeks), and perhaps go to a discoteca! I'm having lots of fun, and am LOVING being in the city! Ciao for now!

Rome at Last!

Well, I finally made it to Rome! After arriving at the airport almost 3 hours early, waiting outside of security for about an hour saying goodbye to family (and buying last-minute pop-up maps of Rome), and making it through security in about 2 minutes, 8 of us Wheaton kids were on our way to Rome! As we sat in the terminal at Logan Airport, we kept our eyes peeled for other IES students who might be on our flight, but we only found one, and we didn’t find her until we arrived!

When I checked in and was asked if I had a preference of a window seat or an aisle seat, I answered window. Our flight was relatively empty, so even though a woman was sitting in the seat next to me, she moved to sit by herself, so I actually got to stretch out for the flight. We took off at about 5:45pm (and that’s about when the small child sitting diagonally from me on the plane started crying…and didn’t stop until we landed) and had dinner served at about 7 (a chicken and vegetable mix; lasagna; a roll; crackers and a Mini Bonabel; a salad with a cold cut, a few shredded carrots, and four olives; and four grapes, three cubes of pineapple, and two orange slices). There were televisions on board, and they showed two films over the course of the flight—Where the Wild Things Are, and an Italian film I don’t remember the name of. I decided to watch Where the Wild Things Are, then try to sleep during the other film. Key word there being TRY. At about midnight (although, I had already changed my watch by then, so it was like 6am to me) they served breakfast, and then we landed in Rome at 7. I really lucked out with my seat on the plane, because I had two windows next to me, and at one point, if I looked out one window, it was pitch black, yet looking out the other I could see all the different colors from the sunrise.

Upon arriving at the airport, we went to claim our baggage (we may or may not have stood at the wrong baggage claim area for a good 15 minutes before realizing it—to which we said “Well, we don’t look like the stupid Americans here or anything…”), then were met by IES who gave us info packets, made copies of what they needed, and paired us up sending us off to our apartments. My ISC (Italian Student Companion), Margherita, met me at my apartment, and led me up to the 4^th floor (although unlike my room at Wheaton, there’s an elevator up to the 4^th floor!) where I had the choice of rooming with her, or setting up in the other double. Her room had a balcony, my own set of drawers, and my own closet, so that ended up being the winner. I also figure rooming with her will be good for my Italian. She’s going to school for Communication, and wants to practice her English, so I figure we’ll trade off! Amanda arrived not very long after (she thought her plane got in at 7:40pm when it was really 7:40am), and we unpacked, then made our first lunch together—pasta with pesto and a salad. And by “we”, I mean Margherita made it and Amanda and I cleaned the dishes—but it’s definitely a meal I could make in the future!

Margherita has lived in Rome for about 6 years (she’s originally from about 2 hours from here), so she knows her way around pretty well! I’ll post pictures of the apartment as soon as I can—it’s really cute, and I absolutely love the location, and the apartment complex. And mom and dad, I found some people on my side of the river! Of the 141 of us in the program, 121 live on one side of the river, and I’m in the lucky 20 who live on the other side! We actually went on a short walk tonight and saw the Roman Forum and the Coliseum..they just happened to be on our normal walking route!

Sorry for the long post, but I figured I’d let you all know I’m in safe and am having a great time thus far! I haven’t slept yet, so am thinking I’ll probably crash early tonight…Ciao for now!

The next post will have a few pictures!

Less Than Two Weeks!

So yesterday marked the two week mark for my trip to Rome, La Cita Eterna! While most of my shopping (although not yet packing...) is done, I didn't know anything about my housing assignment until today, when I received an e-mail that I will be living in a two double bedroom apartment (with a bathroom, kitchen, and living room) with two other American students, as well as an ISC, or Italian Student Companion. The two other American girls are from New York (she goes to Indiana University Bloomington) and Illinois (she attends Hope College). In this day and age of Facebook, I've already been in contact with both of them, and they seem nice, and really excited to go to Rome. I know that at least one of them has been to Rome once already, and we're invited to embark on this adventure!

I ended up being placed in an apartment a bit farther from where my classes are than I was hoping, but it's still a little less than a 6km walk, which will be refreshing and keep me in shape while I'm abroad! For safety reasons, I'm not posting my exact address on the internet, but I'm about a 20 minutes walk from the Colosseum, and from checking it out on Google Maps, it looks like I'm right near a park as well, so it's sure to be an interesting experience! I'm also just not very used to being in a city--while it kind of looks far away from other things, when you zoom out the map, you can see that it's still right in the heart of Rome! Two of my friends from Wheaton live about a 30 minute walk from me, and I'm sure I'll figure out the transportation situation once I get there.

So that's basically the update for my first post! I have the Wheaton Track & Field Invitational here on Saturday, then I move back home on Sunday/Monday, and leave for Rome the next Monday! I can't wait, and am full of nerves and excitement! Ciao for now!

Christina