The Aftermath

Well, this pretty much wraps up my blogging experiment. I hope you all enjoyed reading my blog as much as I enjoyed writing it. I have been back in the US for three days, and my body has finally realized how exhausted it is. If there is one thing I learned from my trip (though I am sure I have learned many more things), it's that no matter how tired you are, even if you sit down and think it's impossible for you to stand up without falling over, you are able to keep going. I think that sums up my last four days in Europe pretty well.

Thank you for reading, I really appreciate it, especially since this means I won't have to recount my adventures in person over and over again, instead I can just hand out links to this blog. All my pictures are up on Facebook, so check those out if you haven't yet.

It was a crazy, exhausting, exhilarating, educational, stressful, amazing six weeks and I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to go, so thanks Mom and Dad and U of A for that.

As far as what I learned about myself, that remains to be seen--I think it's something I will come to see over time. For now, I'm just proud I got myself there and back without any major problems, and I'm happy to be home and finally have some time to relax!

So until my next adventure: arrivederci, au revoir, and goodbye.

Grazie (thank you) for reading!

London Calling

After a quick 2 1/2 hour train ride through the chunnel, we arrived in London! My immediate reaction to the place was to almost start crying of joy because all the signs were in English! And everyone spoke English! It was a beautiful thing after over 5 weeks of stumbling through the language barrier. Another first impression, which was proven to be true, was that English people are much nicer than pretty much any other nationality. They are very polite and actually stop to make sure you're ok after you and your friend fall down the escalator...Should I explain? Michelle and I were beyond exhausted by the time we arrived at London St. Pancras Station and walked over to the Tube station. Michelle's suitcase was broken and heavy and as we were descending on the escalator into the tube station, it knocked Michelle over, which also made me fall as I was behind her. I think it probably would have been embarrassing if I was actually awake enough to register what happened.

Our hotel was in Westminster, a quick tube ride away. I noticed immediately how lovely London is. It is a city, but unlike Paris or any of the Italian cities, it was very nice, not too overcrowded, not too industrial and not too many tall, intense buildings--at least in Westminster. Originally, our plan was to stay with our friend Emily who is studying in London, but her dorm doesn't allow overnight visitors so my mom had to book a hotel for us last minute, and man, she did well. It was super nice, especially considering where we had been staying before, and it was really hard not to just stay in our nice big, two double beds instead of venturing outside.

After resting up a bit, we headed to a nearby pub for dinner. I have to say I felt really, really, really cool sitting in an English pub eating fish and chips. Later, we met up with Emily and went to another pub where we drank really bad beer...but it was still cool, because it was in an English pub.

Now, disclaimer, before I go on: I absolutely LOVED London. So this blog might be excessive just because my love for it is undying. I know I was only there for two days, but I have wanted to go to London for as long as I can remember and it definitely did not disappoint. So bear with me here.

The next morning, after a beautiful night's sleep in my first comfortable bed of Europe, Michelle and I went and had an authentic English breakfast complete with baked beans, which I thought was weird at first, but actually made sense. Then we walked to Hyde Park, which is beyond gorgeous, and just sat there for a little while.

Our hotel was about two blocks from Buckingham Palace so we had to walk past it on our way to meet Emily at Westminster Abbey. It is a gorgeous, gorgeous place but a lot smaller in person. It was surreal to be standing in front of such a monumental building and think about all the things that have happened there, and all the public appearances that happened on that balcony. It was also the day of the Queen's first Garden Party, so I saw a lot of women in those iconic British hats walking around. I was trying to brainstorm how I could get in, but then remembered that I wasn't dressed for the occasion.

As you can tell by the picture, we had much better weather in London than Paris. It was cool and cloudy both days.

After marveling at the Palace, we walked to Westminster Abbey and met up with Emily who is a Royal Wedding/Royal Family nut just like me so we were way too excited to go inside. As an Episcopalian, it was nice to finally go inside an important church that wasn't Catholic. The church itself was stunning and very architecturally amazing.

Once we got inside, we couldn't take pictures but it was so surreal to be standing in literally the exact same spot as so many royals especially William and Kate had been standing just two months before. We had hoped to reenact the wedding, or at least walk down the aisle to see how long it took (Emily and I watched it together and commented that it seemed like Kate had to walk a mile before she got to the alter), but unfortunately parts of it were blocked off so we did the best we could. In all the Royal Wedding excitement, I forgot about the historical importance of the Abbey and that it was full of tombs. I didn't recognize many of the names, but Queen Elizabeth I and her sister, Queen Mary are both buried there. It was cool and extremely creepy to be standing in front of the tomb knowing that Queen Elizabeth I's body was inside. Another cool part about the Abbey was that we saw the coronation chair where all the monarchs have been crowned since Edward II in 1308! It looked old, understandably. Walking outside the front doors of Westminster was also exciting because we got to see the same view the Royal couple saw as they exited the church. However, they were led to a horse-drawn royal carriage and we were directed to the gift shop.

Once we were done marveling at the abbey, we walked down to the Trafalgar Square area where we had another pub lunch and then walked along the Thames embankment a bit and saw the Houses of Parliament and the Clock Tower where Big Ben is (fun fact: the bell is named Big Ben, not the tower, thanks Emily!).

Then we wanted to go to Top Shop, a British store like Forever 21 (but on crack), but it was a ways away in Oxford Circle so we decided to take a double decker bus! (well, I decided. Michelle wanted to walk and Emily wanted to take the tube, but I insisted because they are just so cool).

Emily and I on the Double Decker

Top Shop was very cool, but it was also crowded and I was exhausted, and out of money so I was happy to leave. We walked back to Hyde Park (by the way, I was totally pro at navigating London) and had some ice cream and then walked to yet another pub where Emily and I tried Pimms, which is a classic London pub drink.

It was around 10 pm and were exhausted when we finally, sadly said goodbye to Emily and took a cab to our hotel at Heathrow Airport. On the way we saw the neighborhoods of Kensington and Chelsea which are super posh areas of London that I will definitely visit or live in when I am extraordinarily wealthy. Actually, I need to go back to London someday anyway because there are still many things I would like to see. Plus, it's just a fantastic city and probably the only place I visited that I would return to long-term.

The last little blip in our travels occurred when the cab driver dropped us of at the Holiday Inn. Upon trying to check in, I learned that there are THREE Holiday Inns around Heathrow, so we had to take another cab to the correct hotel. After a too short night's sleep, we headed to the airport via the Hotel Hoppa (a shuttle system with an overly enthusiastic driver) and the rest of the trip proceeded flawlessly.

After being awake for 24 hours, I finally made it home!

Paris, Je T'aime

After our final hours in Orvieto (and saying goodbye to our favorite barista in broken Italian), Michelle and I started our crazy, exhausting, extra four days of traveling.

We left Orvieto for Bologna by train on Sunday evening. We got to Bologna around 8:30 pm and had about two and half hours to kill before our overnight train to Paris came. The Bologna train station was not at all exciting as everything was closed (not that there was a lot there to begin with) and the whole station was hot and humid so it was kind of an uncomfortable wait. While waiting at our track for the train, we asked a woman standing by if she was going to Paris. She replied in the french pronunciation, Paris, oui. Out of habit we replied grazie to which she corrected, Paris, merci. And just like that all the Italian I had picked up in the last five weeks became irrelevant.

The overnight train was definitely an interesting experience. Our cabin was about the size of an airplane bathroom and contained a triple-decked bunk bed and not much else. Michelle and I shared a cabin with a nice French lady. The train was also hot, as we didn't realize the window opened until morning. The nice thing about the overnight train was that our cabin locked so we could sleep without fear of theft. Trains usually rock me to sleep anyway, but you're really not supposed to sleep on Italian trains as they are supposedly the place to get robbed. So the train ride was pretty relaxing when the terrain was normal, but as we herked and jerked our way through the Swiss Alps, it was less relaxing and more "OMG THIS IS WHERE I DIE."

We arrived in Paris around 11 am and I noticed immediately as I got off the train that it was a hot, hot day. Our hotel was a metro ride and five minute walk away, and we were both drenched in sweat and close to heat stroke by the time we got there. Unlike the US, walking into the building provided no relief from the heat as Europeans don't really believe in air conditioning. So after two cold showers, Michelle and I headed out to explore Paris! Our first stop, naturally, was a Chinese restaurant, because we were both starving and it was the closest, safest looking option. Afterwards we went to see the structure I have been dying to see since I was a little Madeline fan--The Eiffel Tower!

It was just as magnificent in person as I hoped and I had to see it from every angle. I mean, this thing is HUGE. The area wasn't as crowded as I thought it would be, and I think a lot of that has to do with how hot is was. Let me clarify as to not sound like a complainer: it was 97 degrees and HUMID, and was the fifth hottest day in Paris since 1870. Walking around in it was sweaty and I was already exhausted before we even began, so after a while I decided I needed to seek out the Starbucks that I saw people carrying around. We used the GPS on my phone to get there, and it took us in a sort of roundabout way, but it was totally worth it.

 Michelle was dying to go to the real Chanel in Paris, so after that we took the metro to see the Arc du Triomphe and Champs Elysees (where all the designer stores are near).

Fun fact: there is a street called Avenue Kleber that runs to the Arc du Triomphe that is named after Jean Baptiste Kleber, who was a general to Napoleon and my Great, great (times however many generations) Grandfather!

We went into a lot of the designer stores and got weird looks from the doormen once they saw our footwear (we were both wearing flip flops) which kind of made me angry, I sort of wanted to say, "We have this same store in Scottsdale Fashion Square, MY mall, ok?" But then I remembered that I couldn't afford anything in any of the stores, so I let it go. But it was still AMAZING to see all the high fashion up close and Michelle and I both picked out our future Oscar dresses.

We then headed back toward the Eiffel Tower where I was meeting my friend Sarah from home who just started her own Study Abroad program in Paris. Unfortunately, we had some bad luck getting there because we got on the wrong train to begin with, then switched to a broken train, then I fell going up the stairs and got a nasty bruise, before finally getting on the correct line, switching lines once again and arrived near the Eiffel Tower. We had dinner with Sarah at a cool restaurant where the waiters corrected our French. I noticed that the French tend to do this which I found kind of funny, because no Italians ever did. I think the French get a bad rep as being rude because of this, but it helps us from looking like complete idiots in the future.

After dinner, Sarah had to go home, but Michelle and I went on a night cruise of the River Seine. It was a relaxing way to end a long day, and the city was absolutely beautiful at night with everything lit up. We saw a few more landmarks including the Louvre (which, by the way, is HUGE and covers 700 meters of city block, and has 14 km of galleries, to see every work of art it would take four months) and the Notre Dame. The Eiffel Tower looks amazing at night as well, and every hour on the hour it sparkles.

After a short, hot and humid night's sleep, we woke up, checked out of our hotel, had a nice French breakfast, and headed for the d'Orsay museum. It is across the river from the Louvre and housed in an old train station. It is sort of the Louvre, Jr. and houses what we can assume is a lot of Louvre overflow. We waited in line for a long time to get inside, and it was another hot day. But once we got inside we saw tons of French Impressionism, which was exciting for me since I'm not a huge art fan but I do love me some Monet. I got to see Monet's Blue Water Lilies and Japanese Foot Bridge over the Water Lily Pond, which are two of my favorites so that made the whole crowded museum experience worth it. The Louvre is closed on Tuesdays, so I assume everyone who would normally have gone to the Louvre were at d'Orsay that day instead. We also saw Van Gogh's Self Portrait and a Manet exhibition.

We didn't spend too much time at the museum because we had an afternoon train to London across town so we had a nice lunch at a French bakery (complete with baguette and eclaire) before taking the bus to the Gare du Nord train station. The bus was interesting experience because it was hot and the drivers randomly decide that any given stop is their last, but we did get a nice little city tour and saw the Paris Opera house.

We finally got to the train station, found the Eurostar Terminal, went through customs, and we were off on our way to London! We both really liked Paris and agreed that we would have to come back someday, but since it is such a romantic city we mutually decided that we will return not with each other, but with our future boyfriends/fiances/husbands.

Goodbye Orvieto

We're down to our last two and a half hours here in Orvieto, and then we board a train to Bologna where we'll board another train to Paris. It's hard to believe we're leaving when I'm sitting at my favorite caffe where my favorite baristas have gotten to know me and say "ciao!" when they see me. But I had an awesome last 24 hours here, so I am totally content with my final days.

This weekend, as I mentioned I think, is the Corpus Domini festivities. Yesterday was the Lady's Parade or something to that effect where a ton of Orvieto women walked up and down the streets in beautiful Medieval costumes, even the littlest members.

There was another, bigger procession this morning and it made me wonder how one is able to participate. Is it a privilege to be invited? Are the costumes passed on from generation to generation?

Last night the majority of Orvieto kids that were still around we to an underground wine tasting. However, it wasn't so much a wine tasting as an all-you-can-drink wine buffet with only two types of wine. But since there was plenty of wine, it goes without saying that it was a lot of fun. The chefs and waiters at the restaurant made no effort to hide how much they love American girls and kept insisting on taking pictures with all of us...it was kind of weird, but I wasn't too concerned considering we are leaving today. 

Well I have said all my goodbyes and packed up all my stuff, all that's left is to board the train and head on out. I don't know what my internet situation will be from now on, but hopefully I'll be able to keep this blog updated one way or another!

Grazie e arrivederci!

Final Countdown

I can't believe we are already at the end of our time here in Orvieto. School is done (!!!) and Michelle and I leave Sunday afternoon to start our journey westward. It is kind of sad considering how wonderful Orvieto is, and how much I have grown to love it, but also exciting to start the last leg of our adventure and of course, to go home! I'm not gonna lie--I miss America so freaking much. I have been telling everyone that as soon as I get back I want Starbucks and guacamole, and once I enter my house I'm going to hug my dogs and jump in my pool. One of my friends said she's going to kiss a cactus...I wouldn't go that far, but I get it.

This week has been mostly devoted to final essays, but there have been a few highlights along the way.

1. Cooking Class: I don't have any pictures, unfortunately, but this may have been my best meal in Italy. We learned how to make handmade pasta (tagliatelle), eggplant parmigiana, zucchini flan, pesto, pasta ragu, and tiramisu. Well, "learned" is kind of relative...I'm not confident in my ability to cook any of these dishes again, but I do know I learned how to eat them.

2. Suddenly discovering the best restaurants in Orvieto: For some reason, we hadn't really stumbled upon the best restaurants until the last week or two, and it's sad that it took this long, but so worth the wait.

3. We're being replaced: I have seen a lot of college-aged Americans around Orvieto which makes me think that they are the new crop coming in to be the obnoxious Americans at Bar Duomo. It's sad because I'd like to think everyone here will miss us.

4. Hot, Hot, Hot: The weather has been ridiculously hot and humid this week. I'm ready for the dry heat again.

5. Corpus Domini: It's a big religious festival that I can't really explain (google it), but basically the town is decked out in Medieval banners and there are monk chants blasting from the Duomo that can be heard all throughout town. This weekend all the processions and such are going down, it should be interesting.

6. Tourists Central: Every week the amount of tourists has increased (and the amount increases throughout the week) and they seem to be exploding out of the tour buses these days. Most of them are English speaking, so that's always fun. I also saw a Disney Adventures tour group come through yesterday which was weird to say the least...

7. Parents: Some of the kids in our group's parents are in town, and although it makes me miss my own, it's comforting and exciting to have them here.

8. Saying goodbyes: I can't believe it, but in two days I won't be walking around Orvieto, saying "hi" to everyone I know. Some of my friends are leaving tomorrow and I will miss them.

Tonight is our "Farewell Dinner" which I'm sure will be succeeded by a last big group hoorah at Bar Duomo. Hopefully, there will be some nice pictures of everyone getting all fancy and such.

Last Week

Less than one week until I leave Orvieto. I decided to post some pictures of this beautiful place since I haven't really had the chance to. Enjoy!

View from the top of the cliff

View of Orvieto Scalo from Orvieto (the main town sits on top of the cliff)

It is a very windy road to the top

Firenze (The Final Field Trip)

Yesterday was our last group field trip. It's kind of hard to believe I probably won't be in an Autogrill for a long time (For those of you who don't know, Autogrill is the Italian equivalent of gas station mini marts ON CRACK). Our first stop in Florence was to The Academia, the art museum where Michelangelo's "David" is kept. The museum is pretty small, but David is MASSIVE and impressive. Our tour guide made a joke that all the girls in the group looked enamored and said something like, "It all looks good now, but will be gone later" referring to David's perfectly chiseled body. The Academia also housed a bunch of other cool art, but was very, very crowded and difficult to move around, so I was happy when it was time for lunch.

The famous Piazza della Repubblica

After lunch our next scheduled activity was a walking tour of Florence. For those of you who don't know and haven't read my other blog about Florence (shame!), the city has excellent shopping and high fashion. So a lot of people in our group, especially those who weren't staying the weekend in Florence decided to ditch the tour (which was sure to be too long, too hot, and not interesting enough) and shop instead. Michelle and I struggled with the idea, but in the end decided to at least start the tour and if we passed by a shop we just could not resist, we would taper off. Well, it was about five minutes in when we ducked into a caffe to grab a bottle of water, when we walked out the group was gone and we could not find them anywhere. We were both wearing our "whisper units"--little radio devices we use on tours so everyone can hear our guides--so we tried to find the group based on our guide's voice coming in and out. We spent a good ten minutes tracking them before we decided to look for the group in the Florence H&M.

In our defense, shopping is a great way to have a cultural experience. I learned how Italian registers and fitting rooms operate (slowlyyyy) and that people have absolutely no regard for personal space. Normally, if you run into someone in America you apologize profusely, but in Europe I'm pretty sure they do it on purpose.

High fashion and luxury cars in Florence, reminded me of home

I also finally got an authentic Italian leather bag--something I have been dreaming of since my last visit to this wonderful city, and I also had excellent gelato...drip all over me as we ran to our meeting place.

The Florence Duomo, so impressive

As you can tell, Florence is beautiful, and is the only city we've visited here that I can see myself returning to long-term. My love for it is not easily expressed in words.

On another note, the Jersey Shore wrapped filming up a little while ago, so Michelle, Tiffany, and I are officially the only Orvieto kids who got to see them! This only makes me super excited because everyone else desperately wanted to run into them too.

This is our last week in Orvieto! It's kind of hard to believe, but I'm also kind of ready to move on to the next part of our adventure and go back to the USA. This week is paper writing galore, a cooking class, and hopefully some fun hidden in between! Stay tuned!

Club Med

Today was our field trip to Tarquinia to see an Etruscan Necroplis AKA...a bunch of tombs. As you can tell from my previous blogs, I'm getting very tired of touring ruins, so I was not all that excited about this one. But it was a pretty area and was nice to walk around in a big open field with a nice sea view! Claudio kept reminding us throughout the whole tour "Just be patient and soon you'll be at the beach." The tombs are basically little "huts" that are decorated inside with frescoes to honor the dead. You have to walk down a dark, claustrophobic staircase and look through a glass window to see them, but it is amazing how well preserved they are.

The tour was pretty quick and then we headed off to the beach! The weather in June so far has been rainy most days, but today was sunny and beautiful. We ate lunch at a great restaurant with a sea view and it was just so wonderful to finally have a (half) day to just relax and hang out in the sun.

Beaches in Italy are a little different. There are several different blocked off areas that are "pay beaches" and then random patches of sand that are "free beaches." There isn't much of a difference except the pay beaches come with chairs and umbrellas. The sand, as you can tell, was black because of old volcanic rock and such and the water was freeeezing, but of course, we still all had to go in. There really isn't much more to say about the beach, but I can't stress how nice it was to have some time off to do nothing.

There is an Italian phrase: il dolce far niete, which translates to "The sweetness of doing nothing," I think that perfectly describes this afternoon.

Back in Orvieto it is crackdown time for school. We only have a little over a week left which I cannot believe. In other news, Michelle and I finally tried the pizza place (which we used to refer to as "the sketchy pizza place) outside our apartment and it was good! and cheap! Coming up next we have our last fieldtrip to Florence on Friday, until then, I'll leave you with a nice image of the Mediterranean Sea.

Back in Old Napoli, That's Amore

This past weekend was our overnight fieldtrip to Naples, Pompeii, and Paestum. For those of you not familiar with a map of Italy, this is an area known as the Amalfi Coast in southern Italy just north of the "boot" of Italy. We left Orvieto at 5:30 in the morning for a 4/4 1/2 hour bus ride to Naples. Because of the early departure time, some kids on our bus will still drunk...which made for a very annoying first part of the ride for the rest of us who were trying to sleep.

Naples is a very interesting city and I really had heard nothing but bad things about it before arriving there, but I was excited to visit it since it is right on the sea. Honestly, I thought it was a cool place since the vibe is a lot different than any other city in Italy I have seen so far. It is definitely a lot "dirtier" than Rome and Florence and less put together. My first thought upon entering Naples was, "Why didn't the Jersey Shore decide to come here?" They would fit in much better.

Our activity in Naples was a visit to the National Museum of Archaeology, one of the most important Archaeology museums in the world. We got to see the "Gabinetto Segreto" where all the erotic art excavated from Pompeii is housed. It also contains some famous statues and frescoes. 

I remember seeing this particular work when learning about Pompeii for the first time in 6th grade.

After the museum, we had a break for lunch. One of the girls in our group wrote down the name and location of the pizzeria known as the "Best Pizza in Naples," it was a metro ride away, but a group of us decided to venture to it anyway. Of course since it is the "Best Pizza in Naples," it was also the longest wait in Naples and we didn't have the time to try it so we went to the pizzeria across the street. Even though we had to shovel down half of it before putting the other half in a box and running to make it back to our bus in time, I still concede that it was probably just as good as the "Best Pizza in Naples." 

Next up was a trip to Pompeii. The weather had been muggy all day, and as soon as we got off the bus in Ancient Pompeii it started pouring rain. The good part of this was that the place was totally empty as all the tourist went home...the bad part was that it was pouring rain. I was also exhausted and we spent over three hours at the site, nevertheless it was unreal to see the town I had heard so much about in my World History classes and also my Natural Disasters class earlier this year. It was also incredibly eerie to be there seeing this town that was totally covered by volcanic ash. The cloudy weather added to the eeriness because it looked like Mt. Vesuvius was erupting, and I have to admit I was sure that if Vesuvius was going to erupt any time soon it would be when I was there. 

It was also cool/creepy to see the preserved bodies. In case you don't know, when the archaeologists were excavating Pompeii, they learned that if they poured plaster into the holes or whatever, a cast would be made of the bodies in the position they were in when covered by the Pyroclastic Flow from the Volcano.

Michelle and I started practicing our "Vesuvius Eruption Poses" so that if we were caught in the same situation, our poses would be much more creative than "AHHHH VOLCANO!!!!"

Next we headed to our hotel in the actual town of Pompeii, or as I like to call it the "Future Ruins of Pompeii." The hotel exceeded my expectations, it was very nice but also very European with one old fashioned key for each room and an interesting bathroom. We had some free time to explore the city, which isn't all that exciting, and I had the best cappuccino of my life:

The hotel put on a nice 3-course dinner for us, complete with wine and bread. Afterwards, we were exhausted and decided to go out for gelato before bed. A few people went out, but I'm not really sure what they did considering Pompeii's night life consists of a bunch of 14-year-olds wandering around the town square. 

The next morning, after a good hotel breakfast (still no protein involved), we headed south to Paestum. This is the part of the trip I knew the least about, but probably enjoyed the most. It is basically a bunch of ruins of Greek temples, which was refreshing considering how Roman ruined-out I am. The area was gorgeous as the temples were spread out in a big field. It was the first sunny day we have had in June and that combined with a cool sea breeze made for perfect weather. 

I also bought a small bottle of a southern Italy specialty, Limoncello and had lunch at a restaurant called "Happy Sandwich" so all in all Paestum was a positive experience. Around 2, we headed back and made it to Orvieto by 7:30, just in time to not start my paper due tomorrow.

We have less than two weeks left here in Orvieto! It's crazy and I'm expecting it will go by quickly considering how many activities there are and how much homework I don't want to do. Next field trip will be to the seaside town of Tarquinia, so hopefully the weather will be nice on Wednesday for that!

Things I Miss about America

Since I am a little over halfway through my time in Europe, I decided to post some things I miss about home that just do not exist here in Orvieto/Italy in general.

1. One Stop Shopping: At times, it is charming that you have to go to three different stores to get three different items, but most of the time, it's annoying. I miss being able to go to Target and buy everything I need without running around town.

2. Coffee to Go: The Italians don't really drink coffee out of necessity, so they drink it casually in caffes, no one walks around carrying drinks on the streets of Orvieto. But I wish I could run into a coffee shop (Starbucks) and get a drink to go (grande, non-fat, iced chai).

3. Normal Store Hours: As great as siesta is for napping, it is terribly inconvenient because most stores close between 12 and 4, and most restaurants close after the lunch rush and don't open up again until about 7 pm. So if you want to shop or eat during siesta...you're pretty much out of luck. I always seem to forget about this too, and it's still disappointing to walk to a store and remember "Oh yeah...siesta."

4. Breakfast: In one of my favorite shows, Chuck, two of the characters are in Europe and one says to the other "Croissants for breakfast everyday? Europe is brilliant!" I remember seeing that and thinking, "Yeah! They are!" But no...what happened to breakfast being the most important meal of the day? I need PROTEIN. Eggs. Hashbrowns. Pancakes.

5. Real Showers: The ones here are tiny and it's almost impossible to feel completely clean afterwards.

6. Free water: Here it is not custom for restaurants to give water as a courtesy, so you have to pay around 2 euros for water every time. It adds up.

7. Mexican Food: Salsa and guacamole...enough said.

8. TV: Sad, but true.

9. Sunshine: It's been raining here for 10 days. TEN. What? I need the sun.

10. Oh yeah, my family, friends, and dogs: I miss you all so much and I can't wait to see you in less than three weeks!

Siena

Yesterday we took another field trip to Siena in Tuscany. I have to be honest---I was not super excited about this trip because I didn't really know anything about it and when I looked it up on Google Images, it looked like every other town we've seen in Italy so far (they start to blend together after a while). But the town was gorgeous and very, very green! It sort of reminded me of Michigan at first, but then I saw the view of the city center.

No so much Michigan anymore. We also visited two Cathedrals, I don't remember the name of the first and I'm too impatient to look it up on this slow internet connection, but it was built first and honors Catherine, Patron Saint of Italy. It also displays a relic of her: her head and thumb. A little creepy, but cool.

Next, we walked around the city a little bit. Siena is about halfway between Orvieto and Florence in terms of size, wealth, and Americanization. They have foot locker and no Starbucks, but they do have signs on the main road counting down how many minutes away McDonald's is. The main square of Siena is best known for its yearly horse races in which horses race for glory and pride, not for money and no bets are placed on the race.

Next we toured the city hall where we learned a lot about the history of Siena...at this point we were all starving and fading so I can't really remember enough details to recount here. Afterwards, me and a few others ate lunch at this excellent Trattoria and I had great ravioli.

Lastly, we toured the main Cathedral of Siena which looks a lot like the Cathedral in Orvieto except more Disney-esque. The inside is also beautiful and features artwork from Donatello and Michelangelo. It also has beautiful frescoes on the floor, but they are covered up for most of the year for preservation and are only uncovered in the months of August and September.

After our tour of the Church we headed back to Orvieto. Saturday we start our weekend trip to Naples/Pompeii/Paestum so I'm sure I will have tons to say about that, stay tuned!

Florence: GTL (Gelato, Trains, and Leather)

Since this is a long weekend, a good portion of the group of Arizona kids took off for the weekend. I, unfortuntely, have too much homework and not enough money to be able to such things, so instead Michelle, Tiffany (new friend!), and I decided to head to Florence for the day. We will be going there later as a whole group, but I figured it couldn't hurt to have extra time in the city I have heard so many wonderful things about. And oh my gosh, let me tell you, it far exceeded my expectations. Firenze (pronounced fear-ents-say not fur-en-zeeee like the Americans on the train pronounced it) is gorgeous and classy. I think that's probably what makes it stand out against Rome (which is still awesome), the city just exudes class. It's a very clean city and with the exception of the scary, old lady beggars on the street (Michelle swears they cursed us when we refused them money...more on that later), all the people look fabulous all the time. Also, it's very touristy so pretty much everyone in the shops/restaurants speak fluent English which was very, very refreshing!

The first part of the day was great. We left around 10 from Orvieto. It takes about 2 and a half hour by slow train to get there. There are two types of trains in Italy, the regular trains which make frequent stops and are slower and the "fast" trains that make less stop and are, well, faster. The slower trains do take longer and aren't always nice on the inside (we got lucky this time) but are much cheaper. We shared a compartment with a nice Italian nun.

For those of you who don't know, the fourth season of Jersey Shore is currently filming in Florence. I understand why MTV sent the guidos/guidettes to Italy, but not Florence...it's not near a shore, unless you count the river, and like I said, it is a classy place. Nevertheless, we decided we needed to stalk the Jersey people while we were there. Afterall, Michelle and I are huge film and TV nerds and we were very interested in how reality TV is filmed...and man! it is an intense process. We found the restaurant, O' Vesuvio Pizzeria thanks to the help of my phone's navigation, but honestly, it would've been hard to miss considering the huge mob of Americans (mostly girls our age) outside. I recognized two of the cast members immediately but someone had to tell me that it was Pauly D and Vinny that were just chilling outside the restaurant (I'm just really proud that I didn't know who they were, ok?) 

Anyway, we chatted a little to the Producer who was more willing to talk to us after he found out that Michelle and I are film students. You can't just walk into the restaurant, the show blocks off an area around it and people can take pictures from the outskirts, but if you want to go inside, which we did, they take you around into an alley "holding zone" and you must sign a release form since cameras are rolling AT ALL TIMES. They were very intense about this point and told us that we were not allowed to talk about the show, the cameras, or any of the equipment and were allowed to talk to the cast but NOT about the show. That part made me giggle because what else would I talk to them about? Hey...Snooki, how do you like Florentine weather? 

Badass camera woman filming Vinny and Pauly D 

When we were about to walk in, a young American man who worked for the show looked at my release form and asked me where in Arizona I was from. I told him where and that I went to U of A and he said "no way! me too!" Michelle asked if he graduated with a film degree, and he was like Yeah! Media Arts! and we said, us too! It was cool to see a UA Media Arts grad working in the industry. I asked him if he was a PA (Production Assistant) because this guy looked really young, and he answered coldly, and a little bit offended "No, I'm a Release Coordinator." Oops. My bad. But ok..."Release Coordinator?" That doesn't sound much cooler. That sounds like a job you give to a tiffed kid who's mad about having to help his mom grocery shop. "Oh how sweet! Are you mommy's little helper today?" "No! I'm the fruit juice and pudding consultant!"

Well we finally went inside and I was surprised by how small and low key the restaurant was. You order your food and Pauly D's job was to basically hand you your drink/harass you. He was definitely entertaining though. Sammi was the only one actually working making pizza in the brick oven. They call you for your food (Starbucks style!), and I didn't hear my name the first time it was called so Pauly yelled "CAITLIN COME GET YOUR FRICKIN PIZZA." And that was my exciting celebrity times for the day. 

The pizza was delicious. Definitely the best I've had in Italy so far. I find it a little sad/ironic that the best pizza I've had in Italy was made by Sammi "Sweetheart" from Jersey Shore. 

After all the Jersey excitement and a welcome return to American culture, I reengaged myself with Florentine culture by having the best gelato of Italy so far (made by real Italians this time).

 Then it was time for shopping! Florence is known to have the best shopping in Italy, mostly because it is the leather capital of Europe. My goal was to find a sweet deal on a leather purse, but unfortunately none was good enough for me to let go of my money (although the bags are fabulous and much cheaper than the US for the most part). Shopping was pretty unsuccessful for the three of us but it was fun to see all Florence had to offer. It also started pouring rain, which was a bummer. 

I was planning on meeting up with my friend Catherine who is studying abroad in Florence, my phone was dying and I wasn't able to access the data part of it (for Facebook) but luckily somehow we were able to talk on my phone before it died. Unluckily, it died right after I talked to her and we could not find each other like we planned, I don't really know Florence so I couldn't explain where I was and we just didn't cross paths. I was depressed and didn't want to give up, but we had a train to catch so we had to move on. When we got to the train station, we learned that the train was actually an hour LATER than we thought, so we didn't need to be in a rush at all. We decided to pass time at an Italian train station delicatessen, McDonald's, and ended up running into two other girls from our program. It was random but nice to have a group to share a compartment with and make the time pass back to Orvieto. Once we got back, around 10, the funiculare, a cable car that takes you from the bottom of the cliff to the top, was closed for the night. So we asked a bus driver if he was going up, he said yes but was kind of noncommittal. But eventually he drove us up the hill (really fast and scarily) and once we got there we asked him how much the ride was and he said, "No charge, just for you." America really needs to embrace freebies for girls. 

This was a long blog but I hope you enjoyed it! This week is more school fun, but our next trip is to Siena on Wednesday. 

Republic Day

Yesterday we took a field trip to Tivoli, a hillside town near Rome.

Our first stop was Hadrian's Villa (Villa Adriana), built by the Emperor Hadrian in the 2nd Century A.D. It is huge but since it is like, really old it is mostly ruins--I have to admit that at this point I am kind of over rocks. They are all very cool, but kind of start to blend together after a while. Also, the morning was very hot and humid so we were all a little cranky. It was supposed to rain, and the day before it was pre-rainy all day in Orvieto and the weather was cool and breezy, so everyone wore jeans anticipating the same weather. Unfortunately, the villa has also turned into a kind of tourist trap and one of the structures turns into a performance space during the summer.

The villa was still pretty cool and our tour guide was Alba our director who is awesome, so overall it was a good experience.

This is the emperor's private villa where he supposedly spent time with his lover (a man)...of course this is the only part of the historical information I retained.

Next we had lunch in the actual town of Tivoli. The town is very cool and feels like a beach town, I kept expecting to see an ocean beyond the drop-off of the hill. I had my first cappuccino of Italy it was iced and delicious.

Our last stop of the day was at Villa d'Este which is a GORGEOUS renaissance-period villa. I know very little about the history because they let us wander around without a tour guide and almost as soon as we got there it started POURING rain. Luckily, the gardens and the fountains of the villa are so beautiful that the rain didn't take away from the experience at all.

making the best of the rain!

As I told you before we were warned about the British soliders that are staying in Orvieto until Sunday. It is such a quiet, calm town that any sort of "disturbance" is a big deal. Claudio compared them to centaurs: half man, half animal---emphasis on the animal part. Well, apparently when you tell 80 college students, "Warning! Stay away from the British soldiers at Bar Duomo" we hear "OH MY GOD BRITISH SOLDIERS AT BAR DUOMO?!!" Needless to say, almost everyone was at the bar last night and it was actually a lot of fun. The Brits told us that the e-mails "hurt their feelings" but we left before any havoc was wreaked...just in case.

Firenze Shore?

I knew season 4 of Jersey Shore was filming in Italy but I just learned that their filming in Florence which is about an hour and a half away from Orvieto! I've only watched the show about four times out of boredom, but the film and TV nerd/celebrity stalker in me really wants to go hunt them down in Florence. I also find it weird that this is the closest I have ever been to the filming of Jersey Shore and they have shot three seasons in the US...

Weekend in Orvieto

My weekend in Orvieto was pretty uneventful, but nice nonetheless. On Saturday morning, Michelle and I went to the farmer's market in Piazza del Popolo. In addition to all the fresh produce merchants also sold jewelry, clothes, accessories, and even household supplies such as dishes and cooking utensils. We ended up buying some fruit and an eggplant so we (Michelle) could make Eggplant Parmesan...which was DELICIOUS. 

We also went to Co-op which is the grocery store in the lower part of Orvieto. This part of Orvieto is quite different from life up on the cliff. For one, it is less touristy and not nearly as pretty. But it does have more shops and Co-op is the closest thing we have to "one stop shopping" here in Orvieto. Although it sold some American products such as Dannon yogurt, it is a different experience than going to Safeway. One major difference is prices. Noodles, wine, produce, and spices are all relatively inexpensive while a nail file is 8 euros and bag of peas is 3 (to put that in perspective you can get a meal in any restaurant in Orvieto for under 5 euros). Also, there is nutella EVERYWHERE. We also went to the bread shop where I bought a giant loaf of ciabatta for under a euro. For those that know me best, ciabatta is my absolute favorite bread so I was very excited. 

We also did our laundry this weekend (crazy times!) which was another adventure. The dial is all in Italian and the woman who showed us our apartment told us how to use it, but we had been traveling for over 48 hours so neither of us remembered what she said. The washer has a metal compartment inside that you put your clothes in, and when I reached inside it, it shocked me. I, of course, freaked out, but it didn't shock Michelle so we finished our laundry anyway. Later, we learned that the washer has to be completely turned off before you touch it...which seems kind of obvious now, but I played the "stupid American" card when our non-English speaking landlady came to check it out.

Sunday was a day full of homework. The one bad thing about doing a study abroad program is that sometimes you have to do schoolwork instead of enjoying the country. But at night we decided to go out to dinner at Pizzeria Charlie which we heard was good. This restaurant obviously caters to tourists as it is the only place I have seen so far that has an English menu in addition to the Italian. I was being stuffy and refused to look at English menu, but once I finally gave in I saw that they had very interesting types of pizza such as one that contains french fries. I ordered a spinach calzone that I have been craving and it was  very good, however halfway through I noticed something especially hard in the bite I took. I pulled it out and saw that it was a metal screw. I freaked out a little and showed the non-English speaking busboy who couldn't express his worry in words, but it was written all over his face. He simply said "again" and disappeared with my meal. A few minutes later, the charming, English speaking, "Customer Relations" waiter came over to our table and apologized profusely, assuring me that this has never happened at Pizzeria Charlie before. He said that our meal was free and asked if we wanted anything else. I was earlier regretting not ordering wine but this restaurant is a little more expensive than others in Orvieto. So we ordered two glasses of house wine, even though the waiter offered to bring a whole bottle (but then we'd have to drink the whole bottle...and we didn't want to stumble home). I'm still not at the point where I'm ok that I almost swallowed a screw, but it is nice that we got a free meal out of it. 

On a sketchier note, apparently there are British soldiers in town and they are causing some problems. Two kids in our group (both of whom I have classes with) got beat up the other night and vandalism has also occurred here. We received a few cryptic e-mails warning us to not stay out too late as the polizzia will start taking actions against the rabble rousers. Scary. 

Well that's all for today. Hopefully I will have more exciting stories to share another day. For now, it's back to finishing my two 1500 word essays due this week and a TON of reading. I know you all feel so bad for me.

When in Rome

Early Friday morning (7:30, way too early for a group of college kids) we all boarded two charter buses and headed off to the Ancient City! It was about a two hour drive from Orvieto including one stop. For as long as I can remember, I have heard how “Americanized” Europe is these days. Well, Orvieto is definitely not Americanized as the only American-type business we have here is Mail Boxes, Etc. But the first thing I noticed on the way to Rome was that Americanization was definitely way more prevalent in the cities. On the highway on the way, I saw several “On the Go” marts at gas stations and also a few McDonald’s. Once we got to Rome, I saw many more American-influenced industries such as Burger King. Another observation about Rome is that people do NOT know how to drive. This is true in Orvieto too, but in a busy city like Rome it is much more obvious. I witnessed a woman who was backing out of her parallel parking spot ram into the front of another vehicle not once, not twice, but three times. Rome is a beautiful city, it is crowded with tall apartment buildings with shops on the bottom, but it is still very cool and much different than any American city I have been to.

Our first stop in Rome was Cinecitta’ Studios. This is the major film studio in Rome (and Italy for that matter) and where big productions shoot in Italy. Gangs of New York, Cleopatra, La Dolce Vita, and Roman Holiday were shot there, just to name a few. Cinecitta’ covers 99 acres and has 25 sound stages, but we only saw part of that and I’m not entirely sure the rest exists as the studios sit smack dab in the middle of a busy area. Like many Hollywood studios, Cinecitta’ has a “college campus” feel and is a pretty place to walk around. We toured their back lots and also saw the outside of their main sound stage, Teatro 5. The studios overall look a lot different from Hollywood studios like Warner Bros. and Universal. They are a bit more worn down and unlike Hollywood studios that use the same streetscape (i.e., “New York Street” or “Midwest Street”), they build new sets for each production. The sets that they do preserve are for display and not for reuse. The New York set used for Gangs of New York still sits as it was used in the 1999 production, and the Cleopatra Egyptian set is still on display. The one exception is the “Ancient Rome” set that has been used for various productions over the years, most recently the HBO series Rome (Michelle was really excited about that).

Me in front of the Coliseum!

After Cinecitta’ our bus took us to The Coliseum/Roman Forum area where we had a break for lunch. A group of us found a nice little pizzeria where we were greeted by two exuberant, stereotypical Italians who were more or less pressuring us to eat at their restaurant. But since it advertised a “quick lunch” and looked relatively inexpensive, it seemed like a good place to go. Another thing you should know before I go on is that free water in restaurants, which is the norm in the US, is not custom in Italy. You have to order water and pay 1-2 euros for a bottle. At the restaurant in Rome, our waiter asked if we wanted anything to drink and all except me and Michelle passed (we were dying of thirst and didn’t care if we had to pay) after everyone else sadly refused a drink the waiter figured out what was going on and said, “Don’t worry, it’s free!” We were all very excited and enjoyed our first, and probably last, free drink of water in Italy.

Next up was a tour of the Roman Forum. This is where all the ruins from Ancient Rome exist and are on display. It was very cool to see and think about how long these structures have been around (thousands and thousands of years), but there’s really not much more I can say about it other than that it was cool and pretty. The classics professor that is teaching here in Orvieto gave the tour and he knew what every structure was and how it fit into Ancient Roman life. Our group somehow broke up halfway through and the part I was with got a tour by Claudio, who is an Italian somehow involved in our program. Claudio is very gruff and well, Italian but humorous in a subtle way. I think we got the cliff notes version of the Roman Forum tour but after walking around in the heat for six hours, I was very happy with that.

I was sad I didn’t get to go inside the Coliseum or see the Vatican or Trevi Fountain, but I will just have to go back someday to see the rest of Rome. The majority of our group stayed in Rome for the weekend to explore more (party), but I didn’t make those arrangements before leaving for Italy since I’m already spending a lot of (my parent’s) money. Plus the idea of doing extra traveling after the time we had getting here did not appeal to me at all. We headed back to Orvieto and I fell asleep as soon as our bus left Rome. Overall, it was a very fun day and I definitely want to go back and spend more time in Rome some day.