BARCELONA!!!!...longest blog ever

Thursday October 1^st came and I had my small carry one of clothes for the weekend, my passport held tight, and so many different expectations. I was so excited to go to Barcelona not only to see it but also because I considered studying in Spain. I started the journey with my friends Stephanie and Amanda. We had to take an hour bus to Pisa,

an hour and a half plane to Girona, another hour-long bus to Barcelona, and then the metro to our hostel! It was quite the journey to get there but we made it!! I was so proud of us. It is so much different traveling with out any adults, but is so rewarding.

The night we arrived we checked into our hostel, HelloBCN, and went to find some dinner, we were sooooo hungry! Later that night my best friend Shea, who is studying in Rome, arrived with some of here friends and stayed at the hostel with us. It was so great to see her! We took lots of silly pictures and laughed a lot, we both couldn’t believe that we were finally together!

Spain was awesome and I would love to go into every detail, but I think you may get a little bored of all my explanations so lets see what I can do…

DAY 1. We woke up early to begin our day of sight seeing. First stop Gaudi Park Museum. It was incredible. It looked exactly like I had seen in pictures, minus mine have a lot of tourists in the background. The park had uniquely crafted mosaic buildings and ceilings with an array of beautiful colors. There was also I section of it that was on Americas Next Top Model! Antoni Gaudi’s work is featured at Balboa Park, so it reminded me a little bit of home. Next stop Casa Mila Pedrera. Another Gaudi piece, so it was awesome! We went inside what was once an apartment building, but is now a museum. The architecture was insane, and something I had never seen before. I thought the top looked like a vanilla ice cream cone! Third and fourth stop… Casa Amatller and Casa Batllo. Both were amazing on the outside, but there was a special event going on so we weren’t able to go inside. Next and final stop if the day, La Sagrada Familia! It was gigantic! It has taken 200 years already and won’t be done until 2021, shucks I guess ill have to come back! We ate dinner and drank some San Gria, Spain’s infamous beverage, and hit the hay we were exhausted from a long day and had another day of sigh seeing the next day.

DAY 2. We woke up early again, ate our breakfast provided by the hostel, bread and cereal, haha. And began the next days adventure. I was so excited because Shea came along with us! We started at the Picasso museum. Honestly my knowledge of Picasso is pretty slim, but I know that his art was influential and I remember learning about him in Meet the Masters in elementary school! It was cool to see how drastically his art evolved from his age, to stages of his life and to the colors he used. Next stop: Starbucks, sounds silly, but there is nothing like a cold caramel frappaccino! We made our way to a vegetable, fruit, and meat market. It was packed with vendors and different colors from all the food. I have realized something about myself; I HATE seeing meet when it is not cooked. In the past two weeks I have seen a tongue of some creature, a full leg, a full chicken with a head, a spine of a fish, and other gross bloody animals. Don’t worry I am not going vegetarian, I just prefer no to see it in this stage of its life, but I did take some pictures. WE kept walking and came across a street of vintage and thrift stores…. O no!! We pushed through our sore legs and went to Estadi Olimpia! They had the Olympics there!! Yahoo so cool to see! It was right next to National Palas, it looked like a castle and we got to watch a water show!!! That was my favorite part! It was a surreal moment, an “ Im actually in Spain moment”. It over looked the city of Barcelona, the water changed colors, and music played.

Day 3. First stop Palau de la Musica. It is a theater where orchestras play. It was filled with mosaic everything. We took a tour and learned about the meaning of different aspects of the building. Europe has been so impressive to me because of the way it has preserved its buildings, to me this place looked new, but was centuries old. Later that day I ran into 10 Armenians! I could tell they were Armenian, and when I asked and the said yes, I said one phrase and it was like instantly they became my best friend! My roommate at Point Loma taught me some Armenian so it reminded me of her! Any attempt at a language other than your own has proved to itself t show you care for another culture. I said a simple phrase and somehow the Armenian genocide was brought up, which Mary also told me about. Connecting with people around the world is an unexplainable and makes me want to lean more about all culture so that I can connect with all sorts of different people. We ended our time in Barcelona by walking along the coast.

It was an awesome trip and I am so glad I went! The metro, sightseeing, staying in a hostel with all sorts of travelers, and long days and late nights. Now its time to get down to business and finish those to papers and read a lot more!! Thank you for your prayers, I had a safe trip and I have been blessed with stable health. I love you all! Thanks for following what I write, it means a lot.

The best of last week...

Alright I know its been over a week since I last blogged, but I have been super busy with classes, hanging out with friends, cooking classes, sleeping, reading, and going to Spain! Let me first recap my week before Spain, well just the highlights!

Number 1. My roommate Meghan and I cooked a delicious meal together! Sounds silly and uneventful but it was so much fun to hang out and cook in our kitchen together. We get along so great and I am so blessed to have such an awesome person to share my experiences with. We decided to go the Chinese route for dinner. We made white rice with all sorts of yummy veggies and soy sauce!!! DELICIOUS!!!

Number 2. Pizza making class. ( I just realized its another event dealing with food haha)…. Anyways. Cooking class makes it seem like I made the dough and swirled it in the air and lots of cool stuff, but basically all I did was watch the pizza man do it, and then got to put on the toppings! Haha. But again my tummy and my tatse buds were happy and I even had enough for the next day!

Number 3. I finished one of my research papers! 1 down 2 to go! PS I have realized that I have read over 700 pages in just one of my classes and its not even literature… that’s probably why I am not a consistent blogger, im too busy reading!!!

Number 4. I spent one evening watching 17 Again with 3 of my best friends here and ate dinner together. Lucy made a fabulous vegetable soup… haha and Amanda made a purple chicken. 17 Again is hilarious, everyone should watch it.

Number 5. I got on a plane to Barcelona, Spain…aye aye aye!!

The real cultural experience

If I had to explain my past week, I would describe it as the real cultural experience! It was so great and I feel so blessed thinking about the amazing things I did this week.  School is interesting.  In my Modern Italy class we learned about the Mafia and how insanely crazy they are.  We watched a gruesome video with a lot of blood and guts. Whenever I heard “the mafia”, I knew it was bad, but know I feel like a have a deep understanding of how involved politically they are and how hard it is to stop them.  I am reading a book in globalization titled “ Confessions of an Economic Hit Man.”  I have never been so into a book forced to read in school and a recommend reading it, its very thought provoking and a pretty easy read.  Blah blah blah, enough with school.  Tuesday night I went to a place called Bebop!  We saw a cover band for the Beatles and it was one of the most fun nights I have had here yet!  It was underground and there was a mix of Italians and Americans and the band was sooooo good, they made me feel like I was part of the60s!  Wednesday night I went to my first Italian soccer game!  Goooooo FIRENZE!!! It was a blast. I wore a soccer jersey and everything!  The whole city was supportive of the team, there was old men there chanting songs and of course drinking their beers, and we won!  Yahoo! This weekend I stayed in Florence again and I was determined to discover the real Florence, catch up on some needed sleep, and finish one of my term papers.  All were accomplished! (Actually almost done with that paper haha)  I went to an antique market and got a couple thrifty shirts, my favorite! I also went to a vegetable, meat and cheese market that was further way from the center, which means fewer tourists, which means cheaper prices and more authentic Italians!  Later that night, my friend Tobyn and I went to an Opera!  It was in a beautiful church and we some how ended up in the second row!  It was all in Italian, but it was at the English speaking church, so in between acts a man would come out and explain each scene so we could understand what was going on.  It was 2 and a half hours, but im so glad I went! It was definitely part of what I consider the Italian cultural experience.  I also woke up early before the tourists’ head out and took some pictures of the inner city, or “the heart of Florence.”  Sunday I made a yummy breakfast, worked on homework and booking a hostel for Barcelona this weekend, and had dinner with friends.  I am getting so excited for Eric to come and so excited for everything still have left to do.  I need prayers for focus in school, I have all my mid terms and papers coming up in the next 3 weeks.  I also could use prayers for health.  The last thing I want with my busy schedule is to be sick.

 

“ The traveler sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he come to see”

Going by so fastttt!

Another week has passed and I can’t even tell you where the time went.  I have had so many great moments this week and have realized so many things that I am appreciative for.  School requires endurance, its all very interesting, however, for me, some things I just cant wrap my mind around.  Reading Dante’s Vita Nuova, learning about WWII and Italy’s involvement, how the World Bank could possibly be corrupt, and a language I have never even attempted to speak.  Again I will say, I have learned so much.  This week I went on a 3 hour long journey to the supermarket by myself and even took the bus home! I could go into great detail about that adventure, but I think it might be one of those “ had to be there” kind of things.  I also went to dinner with Italian students.  I have to be honest, this was the same day I had my supermarket journey and I was a little tired so I wasn’t feeling that optimistic about practicing Italian, but I am so glad I went.  My friend Lucy and I met two friends, Emmanuel and Enrico. We learned a lot about Italy and their feeling towards tourists and we actually ended up meeting up with them a couple nights later with some other people from my program!! As for the weekend, I stayed in Florence.  A lot of the classes here go on field trips, unfortunately none of mine do.  They offer certain field trips to other students, so on Friday I joined the Early Renaissance Art Class to visit the city of Assisi and two churches.  We saw the tomb of St. Clare, and the professor interpreted the art for us.  It made such a difference to not just look at the art, but to understand it.  It was another long day, but I am glad I went.  The next day, I hopped on another visit and went to a Tuscan vineyard.  We were able to tour the vineyard and learn all about the different grapes.  The vineyard was family owned and our tour guide was the daughter of the couple that owned it.  She went into great detail about PH concentration, sugars, the skin of the grape, the color, and temperature changes and how it affects the wine, and the acidity.  I never knew making was such and art in its own way.  We had a fantastic lunch and got to taste the wine from the vineyard, and it’s all organic so we felt healthy!! The vineyard also produces olive oil and flour, so we got a brief tour of that as well. 

            Living in Florence has been so great and such a change of scenery from other places I have seen.  The most drastic I can think of us my time in Africa last summer.  I went from one of the poorest countries, to one of the most materialistic cities in the world.  I am very thankful to how I was raised in this aspect.  I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy shopping, lets just be honest, but being constantly surrounded by it just reminds me how temporary material items are. 

            My week ended with a calm Sunday.  I went to a Catholic mass spoken in all Italian (I didn’t get much out of it haha), some market shopping, a nap, homework, and dinner with friends. I also got down to business and booked trips to Paris and Barcelona! yahoooo!!! Tosca has been on vacation all week, but she should be back tomorrow.  I will have pictures of the house and of course her as soon as I get the chance! I love you all! 

Euro Adventures...

Everyone said, “ Don’t leave Italy without going to the Amalfi Coast,” after the weekend I just had I would have to strongly agree with that.  After class on Thursday, I started my next adventure.  It started with a 40 minute walk through the city with my duffel bag and back pack to meet my friends and a group of American students at the train station.  After a 7 hour bus ride we made it to Sorrento! It was 2 am when we got there, so after we got settled in our bungalow we hit the hay and got ready for the next day! (That rhymed) First stop, Capri.  We missed the tour group, not a surprise, so we were on our own.  We took a ferry to the island and it was a gorgeous day! We got off the ferry and shopped around the island, some of my friends got hand made Italian shoes, I got a spoon! That afternoon we went on a 2-hour boat tour around Capri and saw the Blue Grotto! It is one of the Seven Wonders of the World! The tide was too high so we could go in, but the entrance was good enough for me!  While on the boat, I had a “ Wow, im actually in Italy moment.”  Sometimes my days are so fast here I barely have time to process it all so having these moments are so awesome.  Just being on a boat with a bunch of college kids from all over the United States and stopping for a quick jump in the Mediterranean while looking at houses stacking on cliffs was one of those moments.  We were all exhausted by the end of the day so we had dinner we spent the evening looking through our various collection of Italian tourist books deciding what to do the next day.  Day 2 was Positano and Amalfi.  We got on a bus that would take us from Sorrento to Positano, and boy we were in for a treat.  The roads are very narrow and extremely close to the edge. I saw my life flash before my eyes about 20 times and heard two people barfing! YUCK! We got there and it was soooooo worth it! WE walked down streets full of little shops, mostly handmade linen clothing and jewelry.  We ate lunch and spent some time on the beach and made our way to the next bus station that would take us to Amalfi.  Amalfi was much more quite and less active than the previous cities.   There was not as much to do in the city and less touristy, it was a nice change of pace.  I was so excited to go here because there was sea glass on this beach! When I got to the beach I was on cloud 9! Sea glass hunting is something my mom and I have started doing and has become one of my favorite things to do.  In Amalfi the glass was everywhere! I got so many different colors and even got my friends to join in! I ate yummy gelato and then it was time for another bus.  This one was even more horrific.  Just leaving the parking spot, the driver ripped of the door of the bus next to it, of course we al had our cameras out!  This bus was 2 hours of winding roads and more barf, not for me though!  Once we got back to Sorrento we had dinner! It took them an hour to get our meal, so of course using the Morines within me I complained and we got free food and free wine! Thanks mom!! Day 3 was Pompeii.  No bus this day, just a train pheewwiiee! We went on a tour and got all sorts of interesting facts.  I found the petrified dead bodies to be the most interesting part.  It was very sad to see them, but it was so interesting.  I also enjoyed seeing their bathing area/steam house, and ironically the prostitution house.  We left Sorrento that day back to Florence! It was a long bus ride and didn’t get back until super late! This week is full of classes and a laundry list of things I still need to do to get adjusted to the city.  Please pray that I have patience and safety.  I love you all soooo much!!!

Ps sorry if there are spelling mistakes/ grammar, its late!

FIRENZE

I am finally to Florence!!! It has been quite overwhelming the past couple of days so lets see what I can remember.  Leaving Lido was harder than I thought it would be.  After taking some pictures and giving my teacher a gift that we got her, she started to cry, which of course made me cry! Then we went to the sandwhich place that we had been going to for the past two weeks and the owner looked so sad to see us go.   Later that day we hopped on a bus, which took us to a side street of taxis.  My roommate Megan and I got in the taxi and gave the man our new address.    We got dropped off with our huge suitcases, at some random Italian woman’s doorstep…. The rest is history!   We couldn’t figure out how to even open the door and all of the sudden I heard a voice.  I look up and there was an older woman with pink hair saying something in Italian, and there she was, Mama Tosca.  She welcomed us with open arms and not a word of English, I wish I could have seen our faces.  We were pretty worn out from dragging our suitcases up 4 flights of stairs but she was ready to do business.  She gave us the house tour, I showed her a picture of my family

(she thought I had a fiancé for like 10 minutes because I couldn’t figure out how to say sisters fiancé) and took us out on the town and even bought us our first gelato in Florence!  I am centered right in the heart of Florence! 5 minutes walk from the Duomo, 2 minutes from the fake Statue of David, and about 10 from the Ponte Vecchio.   I had my first day of school today and it was longggg!!!  Tosca walked me to school, even though I knew where it was haha. I had three classes: Modern Italy: a Social Anaylsis, Italian Literature in Translation, and Italian 2.  We jumped right into the material in all the classes.  Italian Literature is going to be a challenge, A. because there is a ton of reading and B. I know pretty much nothing about the authors we are studying. I signed up to do various activities over the next couple weeks: cooking class, soccer games, visit to a vineyard, tour around Florence, dinner with Italian student, etc.  I am excited and overwhelmed.  It feels nice to be completely unpacked and I am looking forward to getting in the swing of things. I dont have internet in my house, only at school.  With a 9 hour time difference its been hard to talk to people, but hopefully i will have it soon! 

Excursions

It has been so hard to try to think of words to describe all the things I have seen.  A picture can’t capture it all, and I think only few are given the gift to describe sights and feelings into words.  I will do my very best.  Before I came, when I though of Italy, snapshots ran through my mind.  Colorful houses, markets with meats and cheeses, Mo-peds everywhere, and a slower paced lifestyle.  Although I am not even to Florence yet, my vision of Italy has already been proven right.  I went to the Cinque Terra on Saturday with the rest of the 85 students in my program.  They told us to wear hiking shoes and bring a bathing suit.  The Cinque Terra is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.  It is made up of five different towns, each with their own characteristics.  You can either choose to hike to each or to go by train, filling hardcore and slightly athletic, I chose to hike.  It was crazy! You hike from city to city, so you get to enjoy the sites and rest after each portion, but after reaching the fourth city and almost twisting my ankle I decided to call it quits and take the train to the 5^th town.  I fell in love with this place.   Its colorful, lively, people hang their clothing on string to dry, really funky doorknobs, fantastic food, ocean view at every angle, and narrow streets.  It was sooooo hot, especially hiking it, so just pretend I have a cuter outfit on in all the pictures, because at the time I didn’t care!

            The next adventure we went to was to a city by the name of Lucca.  On Tuesday we took a bus and had guided tours through the cathedrals and town.  It had some great shopping and gorgeous architecture.  I learned a lot on this trip, about the cathedrals and some of my history from last year was coming back to me!  What made this trip even better was that my teacher, Giovanna, came with us after a lot of peer pressuring! She is such a funny lady and even though she is not that great at speaking English, I feel like she is my friend.  She even invited me to come visit here at her home in Potenza, Italy!  (She is the one in the pictures with the pink shirt that says “catch my dreams” haha!) We had to climb this huge tower, and I think I realized I might be afraid of heights! It was so worth it though because it gave us a view of the entire city. 

            The next adventure was Torre Del Lago and the Leaning Tower of Pisa!  The only thing that we did in Torre Del Lago was, visit Giacomo Puccini’s house.  I’m not a huge opera person, but we did study some of his music in my music class at Point Loma so it made it interesting.  The house was quaint and antique looking.  There was a room dedicated to guns with dead bird bodies and a moose head on the wall! He also had his own little church, where he and his entire family were buried inside the walls.  After that we headed to the tower of Pisa.  It leans waayyyyyy more than pictures make it look like.  It was so funny to watch everyone do the cliché picture of them holding up the tower, not just Americans, but also Italians, Asians, French, and all sorts of people! There are two cathedrals next to it that we went into.  They were amazing!!! Our tour guide knew so much about the architecture and really gave us a lot of facts about the inside of the building and its history. 

             Sorry that was a lot, but I just wanted to catch up before I get to Florence! I have my oral final on Friday and the written on Saturday and we leave that day to Florence and move in!  I am so ready to be there. Lido has been great, but I am excited to be unpacked, meet Tosca, and start planning some weekend trips! Thanks for all your comments it really makes my day to see them.  Yours prayers have been awesome! Grazie mille! Ti amo!!!!! Ciao J