Athena Blogs

Ciao.

Sorry for the delay yet again, but this time I have a legitimate excuse: I've been battling bronchitis.  Let me make a recommendation here and now: bring cold medicine from the US. You'll miss it when it's not here.

Last week I had a great time just wandering around Florence once again.  My apartment is very near to Santa Croce.  I haven't gone inside yet, but considering it's the burial sites of Michelangelo, Galileo and Machiavelli I definitely will.  Another must see, but sometimes missed site in Florence is Piazza Michelangelo.  It's on the other side of the River Arno and a bit of a climb, but the view is simply breathtaking and absolutely worth it, particularly if you're an artist. 

I'm sorry it's taken me so long to write again, but things have been so busy here. We're exploring Florence and trying to accept the fact that these are our last weeks in Italy.

I believe when we left off I was headed to London and Warsaw/Auschwitz. This trip ended up not happening. My flight to London was Tuesday morning out of Rome, so I was going to go to Rome Monday night and stay. However, there was a transportation strike all across Italy and no trains were running. I decided to take the earliest train I could on Tuesday morning (5:50 am). I knew that as long as I took a cab I should be able to make my flight.

Hello,

We've moved to our final city: Florence.  Although we've only been here for the weekend I already love the city.  We walk past “Il Duomo” everyday.  It's spectacular. 

We moved from Rome on Friday.  Thursday night we had several students over in hopes of eating all of our food before the big move.  We were somewhat successful, but it was a great time nonetheless. 

Ciao.

This was the “Week of the Churches.”  While it may seem comical in a city of more than a thousand churches, my professor did indeed chuckle at me, I am proud to say that I went to 10 churches this week.

The first church was the basilica of Saint Clement.  It was one of the most interesting.  The basilica was built in the twelfth century, but excavations more recently have shown that it was built on top of a fourth century church, which was built on top of a first century roman housing complex.  There was a mosaic there depicting the tree of life which was one of the most beautiful mosaics I've ever seen.  It was so rich with Christian symbolism. 

Ciao tutti!

My first week of classes in Roma has come to an end.  This past Friday I went on a trip with the school to a region of Italy called Umbria.  We met at school pretty early especially considering the transportation strike.  Despite the complications that that created, we all got on the bus and drove for about three hours. 

Our first stop was at an olive oil press.  The new harvest had just begun the previous day so we were able to sample fresh olive oil.  They also showed us how the oil is made.  This particular oil is taken from not very mature olives.  They're separated from the stems, washed.  Then there is a paste that's made.  The paste is separated into waste, oil, and water.  Only the oil is kept.  It's then washed again and bottled.  It was delicious.

The last week was quite the whirlwind of traveling.  We had a week off of school so Gabie, Elizabeth and I went to Vienna and Prague.

Our vacation began early Tuesday morning.  We had a 6:30 train to Milan.  Our train ride was nice and quiet.  I got to watch the sun rise, which was beautiful. In Milan we had a few hours to explore the city so we decided to go see Il Duomo.  Il Duomo is the world’s largest Gothic cathedral and the second largest cathedral in the world (second only to St. Peter's in Rome).  I've seen the two largest cathedral's in the world this week.  It was truly stunning.  I haven't been inside St. Peter's yet, but Il Duomo definitely ranks as one of the most beautiful churches I've ever seen.

Hi!

We've moved to our second city, Roma. It is certainly different than life in Tuscania, in some ways better and some things will definitely take some getting used to.  One of the things that will take some getting used to is being farther from each other. 

Ciao!

It's difficult to think that it's already the end of my last weekend in Tuscania!! Our group moves to Rome this Friday.

Last Friday the school organized a trip to Villa Lante.  It is a garden and park with several fountains.  It was one of the most beautiful places I've been thus far.  Three cardinals built the park.  The idea is that from any point you can see directly up to the other fountains, so it really appealed to my sense of balance. 

Ciao,

This past weekend was my first travel adventure.  The school had organized a morning trip to a close city, so the three girls (Allison, Elizabeth and Gabby) and I decided to go and knowing that it would make catching the train easier.  We met at the train stop and toured the Etruscan Museum.  We also got to visit the nearby tombs.  This area is extremely well-known for Etruscan history, especially the burial tombs that have been unearthed all around.  The tombs are similar to Egyptian in the way that they depict a scene of the afterlife (maybe a hunting trip or a sporting event) and contain articles that the deceased will need for such events.  It was raining, so that put quite a damper on the entire morning, but it did give me a good chance to talk to my advisor about life in Italy.  I was able to ask a lot of questions about crime, racism, immigration, and politics. 

We were able to catch a bus to the train station. The small train station was also a good test of our Italian skills.  I was able to understand a lot of things, but I wasn't able to form a lot of sentences to express myself.  After our wait we had a short train ride to Rome.  Upon arrival in Rome we found our platform for our next train and also I had my first encounter with a pay-to-use bathroom.  Sometimes there aren't open public bathrooms, but rather bathrooms that cost a few cents (this one was 80 Euro cents) to use. 

Greetings from Italy!

Life is now into full swing in this quaint Italian town.  Classes are finished for this first week.  One of the great things about going to school at LDM is that every week they organize free side trips.  This Thursday after class our group took a tour of the largest volcanic lake in Europe: Lake Bolsena.  It was really pretty. 

We toured around two islands in the middle of the lake.  One of them used to be a papal residence.  The second island now has a convent on it, but our guide told us that it wasn't “historically interesting.”  One of the best parts is they allowed us to get off and swim!  Only us crazy American students got into the water, but it was so clear it was mesmerizing.  After the tour we went to get pizza at a local place.