Okay, I'm going back to Feb 6th ish because that was when my last real post was... I think?
Despite being really sick, I still went out all weekend. Because I am an idiot. But it's nothing else new. I think it's because I used to ALWAYS be sick in high school, so I stopped letting it own my life. Except for during the week when I'm supposed to be doing school work? Yes. I totally have my priorities straight...?
Feb 7th, I woke up to (surprise!) more rain. I made plans with a girl a went to Mercy with who is at another university in Rome right now, also through MSU. We planned to meet at the Vatican, where I hadn't been before. I took the metro to the right stop and got off. I walked up to the Vatican wall, where apparently I was supposed to go straight. BUT there was a sign that said "Musei Vaticani" and pointed to the right, so I turned right. Walked, walked, walked some more. Kept walking. Shannon kept calling to ask where I was, and I kept telling her walking around the Vatican wall and I should be there any minute. Then I was in residential neighborhoods and stuff, but still following the wall. An hour later, I found my way to St. Peter's square. I had walked around the WHOLE Vatican. In the rain. Way to go. At least now I can say I walked the perimeter of a whole country in an hour?
We went to a small place by her apartment and got some pasta. It was okay. Food is Italy really isn't as good as everyone says it is... or at least not in Rome. Then she showed me her apartment. Which is actually a huge giant place in a hotel. Lucky them! It was really nice. On my way back to the metro, I also wandered through their grocery store, also waaaaaay better than the ones by my house! Dang cityyyy.
That afternoon, Danielle's friend who's studying in Perugia came to visit for the night. We went out for a nice dinner in the Piazza where the Pantheon is. On our way there, we came out of the metro and it was POURING rain. Keep in mind, I'm super sick. So I quickly look for one of the million guys who are always every five steps selling umbrellas. Oh, COOL, there aren't any. After walking for about 15mins, in the freezing rain, we get to the Trevi Fountain and I FINALLY find some guy with umbrellas! Wooooo. So I bought an umbrella and we stayed at the Trev for a while. There was barely anyone there because of the rain, so it was perfect. It's my favorite spot in Roma. Then we continued on to the Pantheon and sat down at a cute restaurant at an outdoor table. There was a tent-like thing over the tables and lots of heat lamps all around, so it was really nice to just be sitting there all warm at a nice restaurant with the rain falling all around us. I got some veal and potatoes and it was soooooooooo good. Yum.
After dinner, we headed to the Spanish Steps for a bar crawl. I am not the biggest fan of these, but my roommates love them. It's just a HUGE group of Americans walking around to bars full of more americans and blahhhh. Oh well. It still usually ends up being pretty fun?
Sunday we went to the local bar that stays open on Sundays for "breakfast", aka paninis. The sun was out (!!!) so we sat outside and just talked for a while. We all took Danielle's friend back to the train station and then decided to go out for Chinese food since we were in the tourist area and if we didn't eat then, we would all starve to death later. We got SO MUCH food for like nothing and it was fabulous. I was still pretty full from my panini, so I ate my egg rolls and took the rest home for dinner. It was sooooooo good.
Monday, my afternoon class was cancelled, so I had the whole day free after 10:30am. I came back to my apartment to shower and make lunch, then headed to the Vatican. I was approached and asked if I wanted to take a tour, so I thought, why not? There was a very interesting group of people on my tour with me, so I mostly just hung out with the tour guide. The Vatican is realllllllllllly cool. There's this long hallway of maps, that is almost overwhelming. (I just tried to post pictures, and my computer won't let me. I have to give in and Find somewhere to buy a flashdrive so I can start posting at school). The Sistine Chapel was much smaller than I expected, but to think that it only took three years to paint is really impressive.
After the tour, I went up to the top of St. Peter's Basillica. I wanted to walk to the top, but they said after 4pm, you have to take the elevator. So I had to take the elevator... boooo. You still have to walk up a lot of really narrow, crooked stairs after the elevator though. It kinda made me closterphobic. It's a great view when you get to the top though! I walked all the way around, then went to where the sun was to wait for the sunset. FINALLY, I got to see a sunset since coming here. Wooooo. It got really cold, but oh well. When I came down, you can walk around on top of the Vatican, which is cool. Then you go back down the elevator and come out in St. Peter's, which is HUGE. Sooooooooo big. There was a mass going on when I came down... I wish I would have come down earlier so I could go. The second it's over though, they kick you out. Which I thought was kind of rude...? Like if you want to stay after mass and pray for even like 5mins, it is not allowed. They come up to you and tell you to leave. Soooooo, I wasn't the biggest fan of that.
When I came out of St. Peter's, I wanted to go to the catacombs, but everything was closed, so I'll have to do that another day. I took some pictures of the Vatican at night, stopped for some gelato, and headed home.
The rest of the week, I didn't really do much besides go to the doctor and sleep a lot. I get SO BORED during the week. There is nothing to do and I can get away without doing any homework, so I just don't. I just sit on my computer and sleep. It's such a waste of time. Plus, this apartment is so depressing and drab. It's when I really miss being at home. I miss coming home to my amazing roommates and being able to hang out (I really, really, realllllllllly miss my roommates!), or running around town trying to throw together a journalism package, or having a job, or having a TV, or even having lots of homework to do. It's just SO boringggggggg.
ANYWAY. Friday morning we headed to Madrid. I LOVE Madrid. I would for sureeee live there. Rome is nice for studying abroad because there is SO MUCH to see in the city, but I would NEVER live here. It's so dirty and Italians aren't the nicest people and I don't really like the Italian language and there is no order to anything and I could probably go on forever about why I would never live here. Madrid, on the other hand, is fabulous. Everyone seems happy and there is COLOR everywhere and there are lots of people playing music on the street. The people seem so much nicer and happier. It's more Americanized, but not so much that you forget where you are. Spanish is so much easier to pick-up and people don't always sound angry or condescending when they talk. I just loved Madrid a lot. OH and things in Madrid cost like a third or a fifth of everything in Rome. Rome is SO EXPENSIVE.
There isn't much to see in Madrid, tourist wise, but the weather was really nice so we walked around a lot. Danielle was a little under the weather, so I didn't get to see half the things I wanted to see, but oh well... I guess it was still nice to just be able to sit outside in the sun with color and happy people around. Danielle has two friends in Madrid, so we hung out with them a lot. The second night, Danielle still wasn't feeling well, so I went out with one of her friends and all the people she hangs out with from her program. It was SO FUN. Probably the funnest night I've had since leaving home. I wish I could hang out with those people alllllllll the time. They're all really, really good at Spanish too, which was REALLY impressive. Their school is all in Spanish and most of them are in home-stays, so they really practice a lot. It was so cool though because when we went to grab food beforehand, they would randomly all just switch into speaking Spanish, like without even noticing until I would ask what they were saying. It was just really cool to observe it all. AND when we were looking for a bar later on, they could stop anyone on the street to ask and then they'd end up having a full-on conversation and ahhhhhh I wish I could do that. I think if I was in Spain, I would have been pretty close to fluent by the time I left. I think my Italian will be waaaaaaaay worse than my French when I leave Italy. I was already picking up some Spanish by the end of the weekend. Dang city.
Sunday morning, I woke up at 8am (after coming home at 6am...?) and speed packed while Danielle took her time getting ready. I rushed out the door to do some last minute sight-seeing before we had to leave for the airport at 9:30am. I went to Plaza de Mayor (and wished I had time to go to the Royal Palace- "Palacio Real de Madrid" which is where I had REALLY wanted to go the day before but didn't have a chance to. Booo. I guess that just means I'll have to come back to Madrid some time in my life!). There was no one on the street because people in Madrid stay out SO LATE. It was nice. Sunny and a good temperature. I got to the Plaza as the sun was still rising. There were people setting up tables, mostly older people. There were lots of old men trading stamps and coins and I loved watching it. They all had these old scrapbooks fulllll of stamps and coins. Some had tables where they sold and traded their collections, some walked around with their books looking to add to their collections, and other stood around together comparing collections. It was a nice, relaxing Sunday morning. I took some pictures and just sat in the Square for a while, watching the tourists start to file in. On my way back to the hotel, I stopped and ordered some Churros. Which I wanted to do the night before, but all the places were closed. I FORGOT to order chocolate to dip them in, so they weren't that good, but oh well. Now I know for next time.
Flew back to Rome and it took a super long time to get home. Running on only two hours of sleep and all that travel is EXHAUSTING. I went to bed super early on Sunday.
I haven't really done much this week. We went out Tuesday night, which was fun until the end of the night when all my roommates and I got separated and getting home was just a giant disaster. I found a cab though and got home safely, so everything was fine.
In other news, Italians need to learn how to deal with cold temperatures. It has been soooooo cold here lately and even COLDER in my apartment. First of all, their windows and doors are paper thin with no sealant. Wind just goes right through them. Second, they don't use heat! They literally just don't turn on the heat. And it's been like 30degrees all week! When I go to bed, I put on like three layers and when I wake up, my nose is so cold that you'd think I had been sleeping outside in the snow! As I type this, my fingers feel like ice and my computer is freezing. Dumb, dumb, dumb. I have to take a shower right now, but I'm soooooo cold!
Ummm, that's about it. Sorry it took so long for an update! I've been planning lots of trips this week (two with Savannah! One to Vienna and one to Greece!) so that's been keeping me kind of busy. I have to finish booking everything later today and then I'm going to start planning some daytrips. Sooooo hopefully this blog will get a little more interesting.
Oh, and the sun's been out for almost a week now! Impressive! It's just freeeeeezing instead... and occasionally it hails.
Ciao!
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
I can't remember ever not liking school...
I have been getting many complaints that I need to update, but I've been busy being sick/going outside on days when the rain stops for over an hour/traveling/etc. NOW, to keep you in even more suspense as to what I have been up to, this is a "what Megan is thinking right now" post, not a "what Megan is doing right now" post. Sorrrrrrrrry. I'll be updating you all shortly, don't worry.
Anyway, the reason I am updating right now is because I have a paper due this afternoon and obviously I am looking to procrastinate. However, this is not my usual procrastination of just knowing I can crank out a six page paper in two hours and still get a 3.75 so I'm going to use my time in other ways. This is procrastination because I hate my classes at AUR. How anyone goes here full time, decides to transfer here after a semester abroad, or even just spends two semesters here, is beyond me. SERIOUSLY. I have never not liked school before. I don't even know what to do. I dread going to every class except my Shakespeare class because all my professors are terrible, the students in my class are terrible, it's just an all around torturous experience.
AUR is known as one of the harder study abroad schools, and that's why I went here. I didn't want a blow-off semester just because I'm in Rome. Except that is what I have gotten, plus massive amounts of busy work. Which is the worst. For example, this paper I have due later. It has to be six pages long. I just read the description of what we have to write about and it literally says we don't need to use quotes... in fact, "you are under no obligation to do so". She told us she makes it six pages because she expects four. WHO says that to their students. I'm so frustrated right now that all the thoughts in my head are blending together and I can't even explain to you what it's like to go to class here.
I'm three weeks into my Italian class, and I know basically no Italian. I literally have only learned to say that I'm American, where I'm from, and how to order food at a cafe. OKAY. THANKS. Because I didn't learn that my first day here when I went to get food?
I honestly feel like I am at a school for people with learning disabilities or something. Which I know is very rude to say, and I am not saying it to cause offense, but I am just so frustrated. I LOOOOOOOVE school and I feel like I'm wasting four classes that I could take at home and soak up so much exciting knowledge and be happy about. I'm wasting my last two english classes here, which makes me feel like I had eighty pounds of gold that I threw off the side of a cliff to never see again. When I get home, I'm going to go sit in on the two english classes I would have taken at MSU or SOMETHING. Ugh.
I feel like I'm getting dumber by the second here.
Anyway, the reason I am updating right now is because I have a paper due this afternoon and obviously I am looking to procrastinate. However, this is not my usual procrastination of just knowing I can crank out a six page paper in two hours and still get a 3.75 so I'm going to use my time in other ways. This is procrastination because I hate my classes at AUR. How anyone goes here full time, decides to transfer here after a semester abroad, or even just spends two semesters here, is beyond me. SERIOUSLY. I have never not liked school before. I don't even know what to do. I dread going to every class except my Shakespeare class because all my professors are terrible, the students in my class are terrible, it's just an all around torturous experience.
AUR is known as one of the harder study abroad schools, and that's why I went here. I didn't want a blow-off semester just because I'm in Rome. Except that is what I have gotten, plus massive amounts of busy work. Which is the worst. For example, this paper I have due later. It has to be six pages long. I just read the description of what we have to write about and it literally says we don't need to use quotes... in fact, "you are under no obligation to do so". She told us she makes it six pages because she expects four. WHO says that to their students. I'm so frustrated right now that all the thoughts in my head are blending together and I can't even explain to you what it's like to go to class here.
I'm three weeks into my Italian class, and I know basically no Italian. I literally have only learned to say that I'm American, where I'm from, and how to order food at a cafe. OKAY. THANKS. Because I didn't learn that my first day here when I went to get food?
I honestly feel like I am at a school for people with learning disabilities or something. Which I know is very rude to say, and I am not saying it to cause offense, but I am just so frustrated. I LOOOOOOOVE school and I feel like I'm wasting four classes that I could take at home and soak up so much exciting knowledge and be happy about. I'm wasting my last two english classes here, which makes me feel like I had eighty pounds of gold that I threw off the side of a cliff to never see again. When I get home, I'm going to go sit in on the two english classes I would have taken at MSU or SOMETHING. Ugh.
I feel like I'm getting dumber by the second here.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Is this a joke?
In addition to dying from bronchitis, I now have a cyst in each of my ears and I think I might have pink eye.
This is not even real.
I think I have to suck it up and pay 20euro to go to the AUR doctor this week. Garbage.
This is not even real.
I think I have to suck it up and pay 20euro to go to the AUR doctor this week. Garbage.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Things I will appreciate much more when I'm back in the U.S,,,
- Any restaurant that is not an Italian one.
- Free water, slash being able to drink tap water.
- Ketchup
- Cheap pop
- Cheap drinks
- Coney Islands and IHOPs
- Good internet
- English
- Big, automatic elevators.
- Giant grocery stores and being able to buy a months worth of food in one trip
- Toasters and microwaves
- Bagels, macaroni and cheese, and soup
- Tissues (unlike Italian ones, which are really napkins)
- Clothes dryers
- Lights that are bright the second you turn them on
- Thicker walls, floors, ceilings, etc
- Doors that open at the turn of a key... not five turns.
- Orderly driving
- Salad dressing
- Pickles
- Not having to cover every window and door with metallic blinds at night
- Bathrooms in almost all public places
- STARBUCKS
- BIG meals
- Unhealthy snack foods
- Peanut butter
- Spaghetti sauce in a jar that actually tastes good
- Sandwiches with flavor... lettuce, tomato, sauce, etc.
- Showers where I don't have to hold the shower head up myself.
- Toilets that flush every time
- Sinks that don't groan when you turn them on
- Not having to rely on Nutella as my chocolate source
- Not being stared at by every person I pass on the street
- Trees with branches and leaves
- Grass
- A comfortable couch and bed
- Hair dryers that dont burn your hair after 30seconds and then take 30mins to actually dry your hair
Shoutout to my twinnnnnnn! :o)
Friday, February 6, 2009
Espettorante, por favore?
This morning I woke up 95% positive I have bronchitis. Fabulous.
That means I pretty much have to get some expectorant cough syrup ASAP or it's going to turn into pneumonia. So I googled how to say expectorant in Italian, copied it down, and headed to the corner Farmacia (pharmacy).
I walked in and said "Espettorante, por favore?" and the guy looked really confused, so I repeated myself. He still look confused. So I pulled out my phone and showed him "espettorante" and he said "ahhh, si!" Came back with a box of cough syrup and we did some cherades/ital-ese (italian-inglese) until he was positive I understood to take it three times a day WITH breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
I paid and walked out with what I hoped was the right medicine. Then I came home and googled the medicine he had given me, translated it all into english, and figured out that I had exactly what I needed.
Wooooooooooo. Way to go. I win.
Also, yesterday we went to a club and saw Yung Joc & Lloyd, which was fun! It was kinda nice to be in a place where the people on stage were speaking English and the Italians, for a change, had no idea what was going on. Today we slept in and then went to the Colloseum (which I've seen twice now, but have yet to go inside... it was closing right when we got there), the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps. So basically the only sights I've seen in Rome, I have now seen twice. Tomorrow we're going to the Vatican, which I'm reallllllly excited about.
Okay, I'm going to go back to being sick city in my bed!
That means I pretty much have to get some expectorant cough syrup ASAP or it's going to turn into pneumonia. So I googled how to say expectorant in Italian, copied it down, and headed to the corner Farmacia (pharmacy).
I walked in and said "Espettorante, por favore?" and the guy looked really confused, so I repeated myself. He still look confused. So I pulled out my phone and showed him "espettorante" and he said "ahhh, si!" Came back with a box of cough syrup and we did some cherades/ital-ese (italian-inglese) until he was positive I understood to take it three times a day WITH breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
I paid and walked out with what I hoped was the right medicine. Then I came home and googled the medicine he had given me, translated it all into english, and figured out that I had exactly what I needed.
Wooooooooooo. Way to go. I win.
Also, yesterday we went to a club and saw Yung Joc & Lloyd, which was fun! It was kinda nice to be in a place where the people on stage were speaking English and the Italians, for a change, had no idea what was going on. Today we slept in and then went to the Colloseum (which I've seen twice now, but have yet to go inside... it was closing right when we got there), the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps. So basically the only sights I've seen in Rome, I have now seen twice. Tomorrow we're going to the Vatican, which I'm reallllllly excited about.
Okay, I'm going to go back to being sick city in my bed!
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
akjsfhdkjfhdksj
1. I literally just let my computer try to upload my latest vlog from Florence for TWELVE HOURS and it still didn't finish. I have a feeling it will never finish, because our internet suckssssssss. So I don't know if that will ever actually get posted. I might try at school. I might also have to do this for all my pictures.
2. I'm dyinggggggg. My throat hurts SO BAD and I feel like there is a fat man sitting on my face because my sinus's (sp?) are so stuffed up and I keep sneezing gross things during class and akjdskjdshfsdk this is dumbbbbbbb. All I want is some chicken noodle soup and to lay on a couch watching TV.
Okay, that's enough complaining for the day.
2. I'm dyinggggggg. My throat hurts SO BAD and I feel like there is a fat man sitting on my face because my sinus's (sp?) are so stuffed up and I keep sneezing gross things during class and akjdskjdshfsdk this is dumbbbbbbb. All I want is some chicken noodle soup and to lay on a couch watching TV.
Okay, that's enough complaining for the day.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Dear Britt, you would never survive in Italy.
I have been looking EVERYWHERE for bagels. They are nowhere to be found. However, I did find some cream cheese the other day, which kept me hoping for bagels. This morning I found the closest thing. They are bagels that have been toasted like crazy (basically into bagels chips) and then basically sold like crackers or something. I bought some, covered them in cream cheese, and it was just not the same! They were okay though, so I guess they'll just have to do. Like I said Britt, you would probably die. Actually, Helen, you would probably also die. We eat pizza 50% of the time. Basically, you two could not live in Italy.
Also, I have realized there are no squirrels in Italy... or pickles... or Mexican food... or many other life essentials.
Anyway, let's rewind to this weekend. My roommates and I woke up at the crack of dawn (actually, before dawn) to head to Florence. We packed up all out stuff and headed to the train station. We got on our first train no problem and walked to the platform for the next one. No one else was there, but we figured that was probably because it was 6am. Eventually, someone who worked there came up to us and asked us where we were going. We told him, and he motioned to the schedule that the next one wasn't coming for an hour. Grrrreat because that's when our real train left the actual train station for Florence.
So he tells us there's another train we can take. We are all happy, thank him and start walking, but then he starts making running motions and gesturing like he's pushing us away. So we take off running. We climb down 93484059038steps and get on the train right as the doors are about to close. Phewww.
I don't actually remember how we knew which stop to get off at, but we got off shortly after. Then we kind of stood around, not really knowing where we were. One of my roommates went to go ask and the ticket guy told her there was a bus that would take us to the train station... leaving NOW. So one of my roommates tried to hold the bus while the rest of us ran. I got up to the top of the stairs as it was starting to pull away and sprinted at it so it stopped. Another roommate stood in front of the bus while I got on in slow motion to give our last two roommates time to catch up. So we get on the bus and it takes us all directly to the train station! Wooo.
We bought our tickets and then went to the bar in the station to get breakfast. We were starvinggggggg. Everything was basically stale, but we thought it was the only place to eat, so we all grabbed some food. After that, we walked over to the trains and were greeted with LOTS of places to grab food! Dang cityyyyy.
Anyway, we got on the train and it was a much needed ride for me. I spread out, turned on my Ipod, and relaxed. As soon as we got going, I realized I was kind of sick of Roma. All of a sudden I could see grass, trees with leaves, rivers, green hills, etc. Basically nature. I hadn't realized how Rome is just building after building after building, only broken up by dirty sidewalks and noisy streets. I suddenly appreciate the suburbs much more... a nice mix of buildings AND nature. So I enjoyed the scenery and the sunshine on the train, only sleeping for a little bit.
We arrived in Florence and got a little lost going to our hostel, but considering Florence is the size of my right hand, it wasn't that hard to figure out. We checked in and grabbed our stuff for the day. All of us wandered the city, no particular plan in mind. Our first stop was the market by our hostel, which was really cool. I love things like that. We were tempted with leather, scarves, and fun masks, among other things. We also heard "Excuse me, you dropped something... my phone number!" about a million times.
After that, we spent a lot of time at the Duomo, which is gorgeousssssss. It's so ornate and just amazing to look at. We also climbed 441 steps to the top of the bell tower and were greeted with breath-taking views of Florence all the way to the top. On the way down the narrow, steep steps, it seems my roommates know me well as the first thing out of their mouths was "Don't trip and fall, Megan!". Good, good. Hahahaha.
We had a nice lunch and headed to the Academic Gallery to see David. Basically, he is the only thing worth seeing in there. It's full of a lot of religious art, which I get sick of after a while... it all starts to look the same. I took 24 pictures of David... 100% NOT allowed. The best ones were the ones I got right in front of David, as the lady yelling at everyone for taking pictures was literally right behind me. All I had to do was take a step back and I would have run into her back, hahaha. She did yell at me about three times though, but oh welll.
After the thrill of trying to take pictures of David, we tried to catch the sunset at the river. We were a little late, but it was still a pretty view. We hung out there for a while, just enjoying the scenery. We also grabbed some waffles COVERED in chocolate from a street vendor and they were soooooo messy, but soooooo good. Yum, yum, yum!
On our way back to the hostel, we made a couple spontaneous stops and we stumbled upon some of the must-sees of Florence. I can't remember the names of any of the places, but the pictures will be up soon. I think I actually like going around to sites better at night than I do during the day. Everything is all lit up, most of the tourists have given up for the day, it's just so much more relaxing.
After a longgggg day of sightseeing, we stopped at McDonald's on the way home! Yummmm. I am just getting SO sick of italian food. I honestly wouldn't mind the constant Italian food if I could at least have like one meal of steak and mashed potatoes or grab some mexican food or something once a week, but it doesn't happen. It's just pizza, paninis, and pasts 24/7. So McDonald’s was MUCH needed.
When we got back, I was ready to crawl into bed. However, we went to a discoteca instead. It was realllllllllly fun, in my opinion, but half the girls wanted to leave, so we only stayed for about an hour. Then there was some drama on the way home... one of the girls got charged too much at the club, everyone's stress from being so far away from home, conflicting personalities, etc. It lead to us working a lot of stuff out though, so it's probably good it all happened.
The next morning, we all split up. Lindsey wanted to do some shopping, Chelsea Danielle and Victoria wanted to go to the leather market, and Jessica and I wanted to go to the Uffizi museum. Jessica is an art history major, so it was realllllllly cool going with her. She knew so much about all the art, and I loooooooove love love that stuff! If I could, I would add a major in art history. Maybe I'll do it after I retire, ha. The ceilings are reason alone to go to that place, they're so cool! One of the things that was so crazy to look at was this room that had scenes of Florence on the ceiling. They were painted a longgggg time ago and had scenes of the time, but I recognized all the places in the paintings. It was just so crazy to look at that and think about people wandering the city just like I was, but sooooo long ago. History doesn't go back that far at home, it's not as weird to think about.
We think the Uffizi might have been someone's house or something, so it was a really pretty building. It also had a gorgeous view of the river. However, it was not the best museum. Because it's the off-season, probably 50% of the work was gone for restoration. There were some rooms where you'd walk in and it would literally be blank walls with all the descriptions. That was really frustrating. Also, the set-up of the museum was kinda bad. It didn't flow at all and we ended up missing like the main room of the whole museum. We were about to leave when Jessica realized we hadn't seen The Birth of Venus by Botticelli or any of Leonardo DeVinci's work. So we had to walk all the way back through to the entrance and go back in to find it. We never would have if we hadn't asked for directions. Also, like half of the museum was taken by the 7 gift shops they have. Butttttttt, I still loved it. It was a very interesting morning lost in art!
We met up with Lindsey after the museum and got some really good pizza! Yum! We also sat in one of the Piazzas for a while and watched some of the street performers. Florence is full of them! It was a nice, sunny day... which we pretty much don't see in Rome ever, so it was great to be able to just sit outside and enjoy.
We went back to the market and walked around some more, there's so much to look at! Then we went back to the hostel to wait for the rest of the girls so we could attempt to catch the sunset at the river again... which we didn't, again. Still, it's such a nice place that we just hung out there for a while and enjoyed where we were.
On our way back to the hostel, we planned another McDonald's trip... we all need a break from Italian food. But then we stumbled upon an all you can eat buffet for 7euro, so we were all over that. It was delicious! And it had something besides the food we'd been eating non-stop. I even had some pot roast (and I didn't get it in my eye!). Went back to the hostel and just hung out because we were all exhausted.
Sunday morning, my roommates and I packed up, they headed for the train and I headed for the city. I was out-and-about before pretty much anyone in the whole town. It was raining and cold, but I still had a lot of stuff I wanted to see. First, I went across the river, because my roommates and I never ventured that far. I followed my little tourist map to where it said the best view of Florence was. I climbed up 9567998789 steps on the side of a really steep hill. Followed all the way by some really creepy cats. (There are wild cats EVERYWHERE and they creep me out with the way they stare and they probably only choose to follow ME because I'm allergic to them. Dumb.) By the time I got to the top, I was basically gasping for air. Probably because I can only go up steps two at a time, which makes life harder, but whatever. I turned, and I could see all of Florence! It was really pretty, but probably would have been better if it wasn't covered with fog. (I have a vlog to post from here, actually, but I'm at school, so I have to wait until I get home.) I just stood there for a long time, soaking it all in... and getting soaked by the rain.
There were two churches at the top of the hill, so I went into one. I love to look at the architecture and paintings in churches, they're all just so amazing. So as I'm walking along, I see that mass is starting. I totally forgot it was Sunday. So I grabbed a seat and it was a much better experience than the last Italian mass I went to. There was only one priest and it was much easier to follow. About 15mins into mass, I realized they had the church bullitan in the pews and it had the whole mass, plus all the responses. So I practiced my italian and tried to participate. I also saved it, so I could use it at other churches. When we did the sign of the peace, I swear everyone was trying to break my hand... it was ridiculous! Italian people have strong handshakes! Again there was that crazy rush for communion though, I don't understand!
After mass, I wandered around the church so I could look at everything better. There were some graves (or whatever you would call them) on the floor, so that was cool. Also, as I was looking around, all the Franciscan monks had started they're singing or chanting or whatever you call it, so it was cool to listen to that.
I headed outside and towards the other church on the hill. I walked in on mass there, so I stood quietly in the back for a few minutes and left. I wish they hadn't been in the middle of mass though, because this church was HUUUUUUUUUGE and had SO MUCH to look at inside! Also, I think they were saying mass in latin. I didn't recognize anything in Italian and the priests all (three this time) had their backs to the congregation.
Outside this church was a cemetery that my tourist map mentioned. I literally spent two hours, in the rain, being followed by a black cat at this cemetery. It was a giant cemetery, with graves from a really long time ago all the way up to now. There were regular headstones, giant headstones, walls of people who had been cremated, and giant tombs (? I know that's the wrong word) or whatever they're called where it's like a little building your entire family can be buried in. I don't know how everyone else is, but when I walk through cemeteries, I read most of the headstones and figure out how old everyone was when they died and stuff. It was actually really sad walking through that cemetery, especially in the rain. These graves were just so full of emotion. Almost all of them had a statue or a picture of the person on them. There were a couple children's sections, which were just heartbreaking. My favorite (ha, favorite grave?)... or I guess you could say, one that touched me most? I don't know! Was this grave that had two big statues on them. One was a young woman in a wedding dress and the other was a young man in a military uniform. They look like they're about to dance, and their hands are like an inch away from each other. They're staring into each others eyes and both have big smiles on their faces. I looked at the dates and they died one year apart, both in their early twenties. It was so sad. They had probably just gotten married, been crazy in love, and then died. It was in the 40s, so I'm wondering if he died during WWII and then I don't know what happened to her... the hopeless romantic in me wants to think she died of a broken heart. I stood there for so long! I started to think how happy their families must have been when they got married and how sad they probably were when they died so young... and I am just ridiculous. This is why it took me two hours to get through the cemetery and I only saw half of it, haha.
Then I walked through the city, basically just walking into churches, realizing mass was going on, and having to leave. Eventually I was cold, soakinggggg wet (even though I had three different guys attempt to carry their umbrellas over my head to keep me dry), and realized I probably wouldn't see much because it was a Sunday, so I headed for the train station. I grabbed some more McDonald's (ha) and then jumped on my train. I got yelled at twice for having my feet on the chair across from me and I think he threatened to kick me off the train if he caught me again. Sooooo it was a very uncomfortable train ride home. Booooo.
THEN I got back to Roma... and got lost for FOUR hours trying to get home. I won't bore you with all the details, but I'm an idiot and Rome is too big. Ridiculous.
I got home right at 9pm, just in time for the boys to meet me at my apartment so we could go to a bar to see the Superbowl. We got there sooooo early because they game wasn't starting until 12:30am our time. We had tried to reserve a table, but they told us no, and when we got there, literally the whole bar was reserved except for four bar stools... good thing there were only four of us! We had some dinner, drank some beer, played lots of hangman, and by 11pm, we were kind of bored and really tired. Good, we win haha. The superbowl started and there was a loud Italian commentator the whole time! We could hear some english under his yelling, but couldn't make out what was being said. It was sad. Also, there were no commercials! We watched until the end of the 3rd quarter at 3:15am and decided the Cards (who we were all rooting for) would probably lose and it was time to go to bed. I crashed around 4am and was nottttt excited that I had class at 9am... it was a long weekend!
Now I have to go because I have class! It's the one class that I hadn't had yet last time I wrote, and I looooooooove it so far! As much as you can after the first day! It's American Foreign Policy and it's AWESOME. We basically just sit around and talk about international affairs. My prof is a journalist and the reason we didn't meet the first day was because she was in Gaza working on a story! Yessssssssssss. FINALLY. I have been missing journalism sooooooo much! Our homework consists of reading the news, and I feel at home! Hahaha. Also, she used to work for the network at ABC as a reporter, so I might see if she has any connections I can use. Basically, I am soooooooo excited for this class! Woooooooo. However, our homework was also to read the first 77 pages of our book, which I didn't do because the bookstore couldn't tell me which book I needed and it wasn't in the syllabus... hope there's no pop quiz!
Also, I have realized there are no squirrels in Italy... or pickles... or Mexican food... or many other life essentials.
Anyway, let's rewind to this weekend. My roommates and I woke up at the crack of dawn (actually, before dawn) to head to Florence. We packed up all out stuff and headed to the train station. We got on our first train no problem and walked to the platform for the next one. No one else was there, but we figured that was probably because it was 6am. Eventually, someone who worked there came up to us and asked us where we were going. We told him, and he motioned to the schedule that the next one wasn't coming for an hour. Grrrreat because that's when our real train left the actual train station for Florence.
So he tells us there's another train we can take. We are all happy, thank him and start walking, but then he starts making running motions and gesturing like he's pushing us away. So we take off running. We climb down 93484059038steps and get on the train right as the doors are about to close. Phewww.
I don't actually remember how we knew which stop to get off at, but we got off shortly after. Then we kind of stood around, not really knowing where we were. One of my roommates went to go ask and the ticket guy told her there was a bus that would take us to the train station... leaving NOW. So one of my roommates tried to hold the bus while the rest of us ran. I got up to the top of the stairs as it was starting to pull away and sprinted at it so it stopped. Another roommate stood in front of the bus while I got on in slow motion to give our last two roommates time to catch up. So we get on the bus and it takes us all directly to the train station! Wooo.
We bought our tickets and then went to the bar in the station to get breakfast. We were starvinggggggg. Everything was basically stale, but we thought it was the only place to eat, so we all grabbed some food. After that, we walked over to the trains and were greeted with LOTS of places to grab food! Dang cityyyyy.
Anyway, we got on the train and it was a much needed ride for me. I spread out, turned on my Ipod, and relaxed. As soon as we got going, I realized I was kind of sick of Roma. All of a sudden I could see grass, trees with leaves, rivers, green hills, etc. Basically nature. I hadn't realized how Rome is just building after building after building, only broken up by dirty sidewalks and noisy streets. I suddenly appreciate the suburbs much more... a nice mix of buildings AND nature. So I enjoyed the scenery and the sunshine on the train, only sleeping for a little bit.
We arrived in Florence and got a little lost going to our hostel, but considering Florence is the size of my right hand, it wasn't that hard to figure out. We checked in and grabbed our stuff for the day. All of us wandered the city, no particular plan in mind. Our first stop was the market by our hostel, which was really cool. I love things like that. We were tempted with leather, scarves, and fun masks, among other things. We also heard "Excuse me, you dropped something... my phone number!" about a million times.
After that, we spent a lot of time at the Duomo, which is gorgeousssssss. It's so ornate and just amazing to look at. We also climbed 441 steps to the top of the bell tower and were greeted with breath-taking views of Florence all the way to the top. On the way down the narrow, steep steps, it seems my roommates know me well as the first thing out of their mouths was "Don't trip and fall, Megan!". Good, good. Hahahaha.
We had a nice lunch and headed to the Academic Gallery to see David. Basically, he is the only thing worth seeing in there. It's full of a lot of religious art, which I get sick of after a while... it all starts to look the same. I took 24 pictures of David... 100% NOT allowed. The best ones were the ones I got right in front of David, as the lady yelling at everyone for taking pictures was literally right behind me. All I had to do was take a step back and I would have run into her back, hahaha. She did yell at me about three times though, but oh welll.
After the thrill of trying to take pictures of David, we tried to catch the sunset at the river. We were a little late, but it was still a pretty view. We hung out there for a while, just enjoying the scenery. We also grabbed some waffles COVERED in chocolate from a street vendor and they were soooooo messy, but soooooo good. Yum, yum, yum!
On our way back to the hostel, we made a couple spontaneous stops and we stumbled upon some of the must-sees of Florence. I can't remember the names of any of the places, but the pictures will be up soon. I think I actually like going around to sites better at night than I do during the day. Everything is all lit up, most of the tourists have given up for the day, it's just so much more relaxing.
After a longgggg day of sightseeing, we stopped at McDonald's on the way home! Yummmm. I am just getting SO sick of italian food. I honestly wouldn't mind the constant Italian food if I could at least have like one meal of steak and mashed potatoes or grab some mexican food or something once a week, but it doesn't happen. It's just pizza, paninis, and pasts 24/7. So McDonald’s was MUCH needed.
When we got back, I was ready to crawl into bed. However, we went to a discoteca instead. It was realllllllllly fun, in my opinion, but half the girls wanted to leave, so we only stayed for about an hour. Then there was some drama on the way home... one of the girls got charged too much at the club, everyone's stress from being so far away from home, conflicting personalities, etc. It lead to us working a lot of stuff out though, so it's probably good it all happened.
The next morning, we all split up. Lindsey wanted to do some shopping, Chelsea Danielle and Victoria wanted to go to the leather market, and Jessica and I wanted to go to the Uffizi museum. Jessica is an art history major, so it was realllllllly cool going with her. She knew so much about all the art, and I loooooooove love love that stuff! If I could, I would add a major in art history. Maybe I'll do it after I retire, ha. The ceilings are reason alone to go to that place, they're so cool! One of the things that was so crazy to look at was this room that had scenes of Florence on the ceiling. They were painted a longgggg time ago and had scenes of the time, but I recognized all the places in the paintings. It was just so crazy to look at that and think about people wandering the city just like I was, but sooooo long ago. History doesn't go back that far at home, it's not as weird to think about.
We think the Uffizi might have been someone's house or something, so it was a really pretty building. It also had a gorgeous view of the river. However, it was not the best museum. Because it's the off-season, probably 50% of the work was gone for restoration. There were some rooms where you'd walk in and it would literally be blank walls with all the descriptions. That was really frustrating. Also, the set-up of the museum was kinda bad. It didn't flow at all and we ended up missing like the main room of the whole museum. We were about to leave when Jessica realized we hadn't seen The Birth of Venus by Botticelli or any of Leonardo DeVinci's work. So we had to walk all the way back through to the entrance and go back in to find it. We never would have if we hadn't asked for directions. Also, like half of the museum was taken by the 7 gift shops they have. Butttttttt, I still loved it. It was a very interesting morning lost in art!
We met up with Lindsey after the museum and got some really good pizza! Yum! We also sat in one of the Piazzas for a while and watched some of the street performers. Florence is full of them! It was a nice, sunny day... which we pretty much don't see in Rome ever, so it was great to be able to just sit outside and enjoy.
We went back to the market and walked around some more, there's so much to look at! Then we went back to the hostel to wait for the rest of the girls so we could attempt to catch the sunset at the river again... which we didn't, again. Still, it's such a nice place that we just hung out there for a while and enjoyed where we were.
On our way back to the hostel, we planned another McDonald's trip... we all need a break from Italian food. But then we stumbled upon an all you can eat buffet for 7euro, so we were all over that. It was delicious! And it had something besides the food we'd been eating non-stop. I even had some pot roast (and I didn't get it in my eye!). Went back to the hostel and just hung out because we were all exhausted.
Sunday morning, my roommates and I packed up, they headed for the train and I headed for the city. I was out-and-about before pretty much anyone in the whole town. It was raining and cold, but I still had a lot of stuff I wanted to see. First, I went across the river, because my roommates and I never ventured that far. I followed my little tourist map to where it said the best view of Florence was. I climbed up 9567998789 steps on the side of a really steep hill. Followed all the way by some really creepy cats. (There are wild cats EVERYWHERE and they creep me out with the way they stare and they probably only choose to follow ME because I'm allergic to them. Dumb.) By the time I got to the top, I was basically gasping for air. Probably because I can only go up steps two at a time, which makes life harder, but whatever. I turned, and I could see all of Florence! It was really pretty, but probably would have been better if it wasn't covered with fog. (I have a vlog to post from here, actually, but I'm at school, so I have to wait until I get home.) I just stood there for a long time, soaking it all in... and getting soaked by the rain.
There were two churches at the top of the hill, so I went into one. I love to look at the architecture and paintings in churches, they're all just so amazing. So as I'm walking along, I see that mass is starting. I totally forgot it was Sunday. So I grabbed a seat and it was a much better experience than the last Italian mass I went to. There was only one priest and it was much easier to follow. About 15mins into mass, I realized they had the church bullitan in the pews and it had the whole mass, plus all the responses. So I practiced my italian and tried to participate. I also saved it, so I could use it at other churches. When we did the sign of the peace, I swear everyone was trying to break my hand... it was ridiculous! Italian people have strong handshakes! Again there was that crazy rush for communion though, I don't understand!
After mass, I wandered around the church so I could look at everything better. There were some graves (or whatever you would call them) on the floor, so that was cool. Also, as I was looking around, all the Franciscan monks had started they're singing or chanting or whatever you call it, so it was cool to listen to that.
I headed outside and towards the other church on the hill. I walked in on mass there, so I stood quietly in the back for a few minutes and left. I wish they hadn't been in the middle of mass though, because this church was HUUUUUUUUUGE and had SO MUCH to look at inside! Also, I think they were saying mass in latin. I didn't recognize anything in Italian and the priests all (three this time) had their backs to the congregation.
Outside this church was a cemetery that my tourist map mentioned. I literally spent two hours, in the rain, being followed by a black cat at this cemetery. It was a giant cemetery, with graves from a really long time ago all the way up to now. There were regular headstones, giant headstones, walls of people who had been cremated, and giant tombs (? I know that's the wrong word) or whatever they're called where it's like a little building your entire family can be buried in. I don't know how everyone else is, but when I walk through cemeteries, I read most of the headstones and figure out how old everyone was when they died and stuff. It was actually really sad walking through that cemetery, especially in the rain. These graves were just so full of emotion. Almost all of them had a statue or a picture of the person on them. There were a couple children's sections, which were just heartbreaking. My favorite (ha, favorite grave?)... or I guess you could say, one that touched me most? I don't know! Was this grave that had two big statues on them. One was a young woman in a wedding dress and the other was a young man in a military uniform. They look like they're about to dance, and their hands are like an inch away from each other. They're staring into each others eyes and both have big smiles on their faces. I looked at the dates and they died one year apart, both in their early twenties. It was so sad. They had probably just gotten married, been crazy in love, and then died. It was in the 40s, so I'm wondering if he died during WWII and then I don't know what happened to her... the hopeless romantic in me wants to think she died of a broken heart. I stood there for so long! I started to think how happy their families must have been when they got married and how sad they probably were when they died so young... and I am just ridiculous. This is why it took me two hours to get through the cemetery and I only saw half of it, haha.
Then I walked through the city, basically just walking into churches, realizing mass was going on, and having to leave. Eventually I was cold, soakinggggg wet (even though I had three different guys attempt to carry their umbrellas over my head to keep me dry), and realized I probably wouldn't see much because it was a Sunday, so I headed for the train station. I grabbed some more McDonald's (ha) and then jumped on my train. I got yelled at twice for having my feet on the chair across from me and I think he threatened to kick me off the train if he caught me again. Sooooo it was a very uncomfortable train ride home. Booooo.
THEN I got back to Roma... and got lost for FOUR hours trying to get home. I won't bore you with all the details, but I'm an idiot and Rome is too big. Ridiculous.
I got home right at 9pm, just in time for the boys to meet me at my apartment so we could go to a bar to see the Superbowl. We got there sooooo early because they game wasn't starting until 12:30am our time. We had tried to reserve a table, but they told us no, and when we got there, literally the whole bar was reserved except for four bar stools... good thing there were only four of us! We had some dinner, drank some beer, played lots of hangman, and by 11pm, we were kind of bored and really tired. Good, we win haha. The superbowl started and there was a loud Italian commentator the whole time! We could hear some english under his yelling, but couldn't make out what was being said. It was sad. Also, there were no commercials! We watched until the end of the 3rd quarter at 3:15am and decided the Cards (who we were all rooting for) would probably lose and it was time to go to bed. I crashed around 4am and was nottttt excited that I had class at 9am... it was a long weekend!
Now I have to go because I have class! It's the one class that I hadn't had yet last time I wrote, and I looooooooove it so far! As much as you can after the first day! It's American Foreign Policy and it's AWESOME. We basically just sit around and talk about international affairs. My prof is a journalist and the reason we didn't meet the first day was because she was in Gaza working on a story! Yessssssssssss. FINALLY. I have been missing journalism sooooooo much! Our homework consists of reading the news, and I feel at home! Hahaha. Also, she used to work for the network at ABC as a reporter, so I might see if she has any connections I can use. Basically, I am soooooooo excited for this class! Woooooooo. However, our homework was also to read the first 77 pages of our book, which I didn't do because the bookstore couldn't tell me which book I needed and it wasn't in the syllabus... hope there's no pop quiz!
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