ROMA

I just spent the past weekend in a wonderful city...Rome! I went on a trip with the school to Rome and we returned to Florence last night around six. I am still totally exhausted from the weekend. I think I walked more than I have in my entire life! Not to mention the stairs... so. many. stairs. I didn't realize that there is so much to do and see in Rome and it is all very spread out, unlike Florence which is much more condensed. I loved spending time in Rome, although it did make me appreciate Florence's charm and magic. Rome is much larger and much more Urban. It's like a big city with ancient Roman monuments thrown in, while Florence is simply a time warp into the Renaissance, with barely any modern structure or detail that doesn't blend into the beautiful cobblestone roads or authentic Florentine architecture. Nonetheless, I had a great time this weekend and saw some amazing things such as... 

the Trevi Fountain, 

Pantheon,

 Roman Forum,

 Colosseum,

 Villa Borghese,

 St. Angelo's Castle, 

the Vatican Museum, 

St. Peter's Basilica,

 Sistine Chapel,

 St. Aloysious Gonzaga's tomb,

 the Jesuit House of Rome, 

Jesuit Church of Rome,

the Pope's weekly blessing in St. Peter's Square

and a million other things that are probably blurred together with my chaotic weekend!

Here are some photos of my experience in Rome, I hope the pictures can say it all because as exhausting as the trip was, writing about each and everything might actually kill me. Enjoy.

Lavender Bike.

Firenze: The City of Stories.

On Tuesday, my english professor took five of us on a tour of Florence. She called it the "Dante Tour". We walked around for over two hours as she pointed out buildings, plaques, and other sights having to do with Dante. We just finished Dante's Divine Comedy in class, which I really enjoyed. Before we started studying Dante I had no idea that he even lived in Florence. Actually, I didn't know anything about him at all. But basically Dante Alghieri was an Italian man who lived in Florence in the late 11th century and was eventually banned from the city. He was in love with a woman named Beatrice (in Italian pronounced bee-ah-tree-chay) who was forced by her family to marry another man, which left Dante bitter and miserable. He eventually married another woman and had two children, but his family was allowed to stay in the city when Dante was excommunicated so he died a lonely man. During this time, he wrote the Divine Comedy in which he is the main character and is lead through the seven levels of hell by Virgil, author of the Aeneid, another work we just finished studying. In these levels of hell Dante comes across many different characters, fictional and historical, and, as the author, he has the ones he was not very fond of placed in really horrific circumstances in this 'Inferno' he has created.

Dante was bitter with Florence for excommunicating him, but the people of the city LOVE Dante. They did then and they still do. There are plaques all over Florence with excerpts from the Divine Comedy, and some Italians even have the epic poem memorized. It's crazy long, so that is quite impressive. The Divine Comedy is of basic knowledge to any Italian elementary schooler. There is a statue of Dante outside the famous Santa Croce church, which houses the tombs of both Galileo and Michelangelo.

It was so crazy and so interesting learning about all the diffferent significant spots in Florence that had to do with Dante's life or his work. Here in the city we visited Museo di Dante, which is a replica of the villa that Dante supposedly lived in, in the location of where they suspected he once lived. Our professor also took us to Piazza del Limbo, which is the location of an old Roman bath here in Florence. 'Limbo' is the place in the underworld in the Divine Comedy where spirits of babies who never got the chance to be baptized are sent. They are not sent to hell because they had no control over their not being baptized, but they cannot go to the Paradiso (heaven) because they are not technically Christians. My professor said these unbaptized babies were actually buried under the stones of the Piazza 100s of years ago, and this is where Dante got the name for this dimension of Purgatory.When we were standing in the middle of the Piazza and she said all of this, I definitely got goosebumps.

When I have read literature and studied history in school in America, I have definitely always been interested in the work. But the experience here is so different than studying at home. I walk around this city, my home for 3.5 months, and every corner I turn is part of some history book somewhere, or some famous literature, and has some amazing significance that I am usually not even aware of.
There are restaurants here that are in underground rooms that are 600 years old. The street names and Piazza names remain the same from when they were initially named just as long ago if not longer. Literally, each street name is the Italian title for what used to be sold on that street. Street of shoes, street of silver, etc. And today, here I am, strolling on the same street on my way to H&M or a Gelateria or a pub to meet my friends.

My professor said: "You can easily look at Florence as a museum. Every street corner, every piazza; this city is an enormous museum of a number of things, it's almost impossible to see and know it all. But you can also look at Florence as a book. It is a book with many, many pages."

This comment has stuck with me. It's true that Florence is like a giant historical museum, but it also tells so many stories. Stories about Dante, about medieval times, about the renaissance, and also about the students who have studied here before me, and eventually the students who will venture here after me. Most importantly, this place is allowing me to create my own stories.. some that I will take home with me, and some that I will leave here, along with a little piece of my heart.

Rainy Sunday.

Today I woke up and it was pouring rain. We leave our balcony doors open at night because the heater makes our room so warm at night, and my bed is right next to the doors, so I felt like it was raining in our room! Such a pleasant sound to wake up to. However, it didn't help me in waking up and being productive today.. it's always hard to get anything done on rainy sunday afternoons. So I'm resorting to blogging.

This weekend I stayed in Florence, except for Saturday which I spent in Venice with my roommate Shannon. Friday we started the day at our favorite panini shop and then went shopping in the market and bought some gifts, then we attempted to go to the Boboli Gardens, an outdoor museum that is about a 30 minute walk from the Duomo and is suppose to be beautiful. It was sunny and 70 degrees on Friday so we thought it would be perfect! But we got there and they had closed already! It was only 4:30 so we were really bummed. But we slowly strolled home and enjoyed the sunset anyway. I have found that no matter where you are in the city, sunset is the most beautiful time of day. The colors of the brick and stone and orange, yellow, red, and beige paint that covers the walls and buildings around the city seem to intensely illuminate from the minute the sun starts to set until all the light has gone. It's almost indescribable... so beautiful. It kind of reminds me of the Arizona desert sunsets we see in Paradise Valley, and makes me miss them a little bit! But that's not a problem considering I only have about 5 weeks left in Italy. Where has the time gone?! I can't believe it. The whole thing feels like a dream.

Saturday Shannon and I left for venice at 8:00 am from the Santa Maria Novella train station, by bus with a student travel group. We were going to try to explore Venice by ourselves, but friends that visited the city a few weeks ago said it would be smart to go with a tour group because Venice was pretty tricky. Now I know what they were talking about.. getting around Venice alone would be impossible! When we arrived, we went straight to the first water taxi station, similar to a bus stop, but different because they have no streets in Venice! I always knew that Venice was the city of water canals, but I didn't know that they literally have no streets, no cars, no stoplights, nothing. It's all water. The police, ambulance, firemen, taxis: all boats. It was insane! I was so confused. We hopped on a boat that took us down the grand canal, the biggest canal in the city, and to the Piazza San Marco where the Basilica of San Marco is. Piazza San Marco is one of the most famous piazza's in Europe and the only piazza in Venice, all the rest are called 'campi'. Piazza San Marco is the piazza with tons and TONS of gross pigeons that aren't afraid to waddle right up to you and peck at your feet and even land on people with food. What's more gross is that people let the pigeons crawl all over them! So weird. However, Shannon was really excited to see all the pigeons and mess with them so we took some action shots of us running through the crowds of 100s of pigeons. After, we toured the piazza and saw a glassblowing demonstration and them roamed around on our own. Glass is what Venice and a nearby island, Murano, are known for. There are over 2,000 hues that they make the glass in, and it's everywhere. Glass figurines, jewelry, cufflinks, dishes, you name it. It's all very beautiful and very expensive! I found a really pretty necklace with a clear glass heart charm that was only 11 euro, so I could bring a little piece of Venice home with me.

We spent the rest of the day walking around, following our tour guide who was a little old man that, when I asked him where he was from, responded that he had lived in Germany, France, Italy, Prague, Ecuador, Mexico, South Africa, USA, and probably a few other places. He called himself a 'man of the world'. No kidding! He was very knowledgeable about Venice and took us to all the important places and explained their significance in intricate detail. Very interesting.  After the tour we had an hour and a half of free time so Shannon and I roamed around the open air markets and stopped at a cafe for Tiramisu, which was created in Venice! It was oh so good. We also got little bottles of Bellini, a peach champagne like cocktail that was also started in Venice and has something to do with Ernest Hemingway, but I forgot what the connection is. Either way, the bellini was really sweet and really good!

We got back on the bus by 7:00 and got home by 10:40 pm because we made a stop for dinner. Shannon had some homework to do, but I didn't have anything demanding homework-wise this weekend so I met my friends at a bar and we went to a club called Space and danced all night! Which brings me to today, having a lazy sunday and being exhausted from the weekend.

Pete and M.A. come to Firenze!

Last Wednesday, the 27th, my parents flew into Rome and took the train to the Santa Maria Novella train station here in Florence. I got out of class and walked a few blocks to meet them at their hotel, only to turn the corner and see my mom running down the street in a hot pink jacket with her arms spread out ready to embrace me for a huge hug! It was cute. After going back to school to finish my classes for the day, my parents met me at my pensione and I showed them around and they said hello to my roommates, and I showed them around my school and then had to take a midterm that afternoon before meeting them for dinner at one of mine and my friends' favorite restaurants, Trattoria ZaZa. We had amazing food and drank wonderful wine and it was a great first night for them in Florence. 

The next day, my parents came to lunch at my pensione and met my pensione owners and some of my other hallmates. After that, all of my friends (literally, every last one of them) left for Barcelona for the long Halloween weekend. So we said goodbye and I showed my parents around the center of the city and lead them to some sights like the Duomo and the Ponte Vecchio. We walked by the Museo Di Academia, where Michelangelo's David is kept, and there was absolutely NO line, which is totally not normal, so we went inside and it was definitely worth seeing. The David is enormous and amazing. After, we eventually ventured over to the other side of the Arno and went to a pub called the Friends Bar for some Italian beer. We then walked to a nice restaurant that had been recommended to me by several people called Ristorante Buca Mario. We didn't make a reservation so we waited in a fast-growing line outside of the restaurant when it opened at 7:30 (my parents thought it was so weird that everywhere opened so late... but that's Italia for you!) and they eventually sat us in this very back room with all the Asian tourists. It was pretty comical. We joked and called it the "Loser Room." Dinner was fabulous and afterward we walked home and my mom and I  took a ride on the merry-go-round, pretty funny. Fortunately my dad documented it.

The Following day, Friday, I took my parents on the same Chianti bike tour that I went on with my friends a few weeks ago. The day was beautiful, about 70 degrees and sunny. We were so lucky! It was the last weekend that the bike tours were going on and we had such an awesome day. Our tour guide asked me to be the "caboose" and hang in the back of the line to make sure no one got lost, and in return he gave me a free I-Bike-Italy t-shirt! Pretty good deal. My parents loved the bike ride and had such a great day. I had a really great time doing the bike ride for the second time because it was a totally different experience going with my parents vs. going with 25 other students. It was a really great day and it was great to get out of the city and get some exercise! 

We were pretty exhausted after the bike ride, but we made it out that night and went to a little Trattoria near the Museo Di Palazzo Vecchio, which is right near the Uffitzi Gallery. After dinner we followed our ears to an Irish man playing on his acoustic guitar a number of American songs from bands like U2, Simon and Garfunkle, John Denver and The Beatles. We bought "vino take-away" along with plastic cups and listened for a while to this awesome little outdoor concert. It was so amazing, listening to this random guy play in this little area near the Uffitzi gallery, one of the oldest museums in the world, which houses all the Medici family's artwork that they owned when they lived and ruled in Florence. It is the largest collection of art in Florence and the most popular museum. Anyway, it was a fantastic way to end the night! The following day we spent walking around Florence and I took my parents to try their first Doner Kebab, which is kind of like a pita sandwich and they make it by shaving off roasted meat, turkey and pork I think, from this giant rotisserie thing and stuff a pita/panini bread looking thing with the meat and then with lettuce, tomato, onion, cabbage, french fries, taziki sauce and chili sauce - so GOOD. We eat them all the time because they are cheap and portable and awesome. My parents loved them too! After eating we went to the Santa Croce, where Michaelangelo and Galileo's tombs are kept, and then I took them up to the Piazza Michaelangelo which is about a 30 minute walk from the center of Florence. Up at the piazza is one of the best views of the city. Even though it was cloudy and a bit cold, the view was amazing. 

After visiting the Piazza we took the bus up to the ancient city of Fiesole. It is supposed to be the best view of Florence, only a 15 minute bus ride away. The day was pretty cloudy so we couldn't see the city very well, but we went into a really cool outdoor museum that houses some ancient Roman ruins from the 4th century. It was so cool! The crisp autumn weather actually made the scenery look that much cooler, with the fall colors coming out in the trees. It was a really nice afternoon. We took the bus back to Florence and got ready to go to dinner at Dante's Pizzeria, a Trattoria where my friends and I go often on the weekends because they give students unlimited liters of the house wine! Unfortunately my parents did not pass as students so we did not get free wine. But we had a great dinner and I think we are going back tonight and taking my friends, and my roommate Leslie and her Mom are also joining! My parents' trip is almost coming to an end and it has been a wonderful weekend, and I'm also really excited for my friends to get back from Barcelona in a couple hours! 

My Life Abroad... In Pictures.

Wonderful Weekend at Home

I spent this past weekend at home in Florence, just getting over the last leg of my cough/cold. It was so, so nice to be able to sleep in and not have to get on any long bus rides or follow anyone else's agenda! Thursday night my pensione hosts organized a small pizza party/beer pong tournament for everyone that lives in my pensione! It was really funny because they set up a bunch of chip bowls and made a bunch of popcorn and there were colorful balloons and tablecloths everywhere; I felt like I was at an Ingleside dance. So funny. We all paid 2 euro and our pensione hosts, Matteo and Massimo, made homemade pizza and bought Italian beer and we all hung out for a couple hours. No other pensiones have done anything fun like this, so my friends that live down the street in the other pensiones couldn't believe that we got a party thrown for us! I am so happy that me, Shannon, and Leslie were lucky enough to get placed where we did.

After our beer pong party Shannon and I went with some of our guy friends to a bar by the duomo and had a really nice night. When I got home at around 2:00 am I accidentally answered a skype call from my mom who was not too happy about me going out when I had been complaining about being sick all week.. sorry Mom! But now the weekend is over and I feel much better, so no harm done! The rest of the weekend I spent walking around and exploring the streets of Florence, sleeping in late (something that is actually really, really rare for us Florence kids) and drinking fabulous wine. Last night, Saturday, some girls and I went out to dinner and then stumbled upon a live concert in the Palazzo Vecchio, a square (called a "piazza" here in Firenze) right by the Museo Uffitzi, and we drank wine from plastic cups and listened to the band play, along with 100s of Italians. It was a really cool event, a free concert for everyone right in the center of Florence, and it happened to be an english-speaking band! Such a fun time.

Today, Sunday, I have so far spent all my time doing homework and preparing study guides for my upcoming midterms this week. My mom and dad get here Wednesday so I would like to be done with my work before then! I am SO excited to see them and spend the entire weekend with them. I'm planning on taking them to the top of the Duomo, to the Museo Academia to see the David, to the Palazzo Michelangelo for a fabulous panoramic view of the city, to the Mercato Centrale for a taste of authentic Italian cuisine, and maybe to the San Lorenzo market for some shopping and beautiful Italian leather goods. We are planning on taking a day trip to Cinque Terre, an Italian coast town that is famous for its hiking and beautiful views, and possibly going on the same Chianti wine-tasting bike tour that I went on with my friends a couple weeks ago. I can't wait to see my parents and show them everything that I have been up to here in Florence and give them a taste of my life here. It's insane how fast the semester has gone by, I really can't believe how many places I have been and things I have seen since I have been in Europe! My experience has been truly amazing. It's just flying by so quickly.. pretty soon I will be back in Phoenix for Christmas and immediately after my mom and I will be on the road taking my car and my life back up to Spokane for my second semester of Junior year. 

It's absolutely crazy thinking about how fast time has gone. I can still remember the day that Cooper left for his Freshman year at Gonzaga.. I had no idea that I'd end up at the same school. It's almost painful to think about how fast time has gone since then. To think that I am almost done with my time at Gonzaga is such a difficult thought for me! I never want to leave. I'm pretty sure it's the best thing that has ever happened to me. 

One thing that living in Florence has taught me is to live my life one day at a time and enjoy every moment of it. I have adopted this take on life because every single day since I arrived in Europe has been such an adventure; there hasn't been a day gone by without a new experience or memory. Over here, it's impossible not to live my life one day at a time because every day is an adventure. I have realized that I am living in the most historically and culturally rich city in the world, and it's not something to take for granted. But, returning home will not mean I will leave this perspective of the world behind.. it will be something that will stay with me forever.