Vacanza, Part 2

Allora. The second part of my trip was nice. I was by myself which had a tendency to be a bit lonely, but in the end I really enjoyed it. It's nice to know that I'm independent enough to travel on my own and that I have enough knowledge of the language to communicate. So first was Assisi. After a decent bus ride, I hopped off the pullman and I walked around pretty aimlessly and talked to some people. Needless to say, there was a lot of church visiting while in Assisi.

First, St. Francis. It's got upper and lower churches with gorgeous frescoes. My favorite was the lower church which was older than the other. While I'm not a huge fan of crypts, I managed to work up the nerve to enter them in Assisi. I read that St. Francis chose the spot of his basilica as his burial site because originally it was the Collo d'Inferno (Hill of Hell) or the place criminals were killed. Since some of his followers were devoted to the idea of building the church it's now known as the Collo di Paradiso. Knowing what I do about his teachings, I'm not so sure St. Francis would've been happy, but as one of the most popular destinations for pilgrims, I think maybe things might balance out. I was also a huge fan of St. Clara's Basilica, anchoring the other side of Assisi. Saw some others and even went to vespers mass at St. Rufinus. That night I ate some pizza, took a great walk, and was able to see Perugia down the hill. I stayed in a hostel and I think I was the ONLY person in the whole place. Nice, safe place with some peace and quiet--not for 15 euro!

The next morning I took another stroll to the train station for the trip into Perugia. I have to admit that I was a bit surprised at the city at first! I had heard that it'd be a bit like Siena, but that's not quite accurate. There were so many cars and the drivers didn't have much patience for pedestrians. This was a bit of a put-off at first, but when I FINALLY made it to the center (it took a while for various reasons) I really enjoyed myself. I bought a panino and ate it on the steps of the Basilica di San Lorenzo, which I also visited. Lucky for me, I was able to catch up with Alissa, another student from Meredith. She gave me a tour of the city and I met all of her friends. One of them performed a great magic show and after that we had a fun night hanging out with them like the Italian students by the Fontana Maggiore. The next morning Alissa was on her way to Venice, so I was out and about early. I decided to sit and write in my journal in a park that looks out onto the gorgeous Umbrian hills and by chance I met a man from NBC. He asked me to "model" for a news story on the Amanda Knox case so my hands were on the Today Show! That was pretty exciting.

In fine, it was also nice to be able to move at whatever speed I wished and there was some good thinking time, but I quite like travelling with someone else with whom I can share my experience. But for now, I'm back "home" and loving it!

When in Rome, be a tourist.

Ciao a tutti! It's amazing how things really are getting busier all the time. While me being busy here is not even closely representative of the chaos of a normal spring semester, I'm having trouble checking off my "to-do" list. There's so much to do and to see that it's hard to ignore the constant pressure to do them before it's already time to come home. But again, this is really less of a complaint and more of an observation of my "difficult" life abroad.

I've been traveling a lot more on the weekends than I imagined I would, but I'm trying to find a balance. Last weekend I went with some friends to Rome and had a truly fantastic time. Leaving early nella mattina, we boarded the bus to Rome and arrived around noon. Getting oriented, we made a bee-line to Vatican City. It was truly breath-taking to see some of these masterpieces and to be able to tell you "what it smells like in the Sistene Chapel" (Good Will Hunting). I also really loved walking around in St. Peter's Basilica, but my favorite part of the day was when the 3 other girls and I ate some of the best gelato EVER and soaked in the sun, the people, and the experience in the Piazza del Papa'.

After checking in at the hotel, we took a nap before going to dinner. All weekend we ate wonderfully (and cheaply) thanks to Rick Steves and some other guidebooks! After dinner we went on a grand tour of the city at night. My host parents were surprised about how much I actually did see in just a day and half, which made me feel really good. :) But among this crazy tour was the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, and the Fountain of the Four Rivers (my favorite!). I didn't see them in the day time, but everything looked GORGEOUS at night. Surprisingly, we also had some opportunities to speak in Italian. Rome has a bit of the same feeling as New York City with a big tourist fingerprint. I heard more English than I had in a while and couldn't wait to get back to Siena and Italian.

Sunday morning we split up for a few hours and my friend Julissa and I went back to the Vatican to see the Pope. The crowd was insane! He said a prayer, talked a little about "La Festa Delle Donne" (which I'll explain later), and made some shout-outs in German, French, English, Spanish, and Italian. Then we went to meet up with the other travellers at the Colosseum. After a 10 minute wait for a ticket (incredible!), we got our tickets per gratis. That's right--FOR FREE! La Festa Delle Donne, or the Day of the Women, was created after the Women's Rights Movement. While I question if it's any less commercial than Valentine's Day, it was certainly an unexpected and very welcomed surprise. But getting back to my sight seeing, I loved the Colosseum and the Roman Forum! Standing there in the remnants of everyday life from centuries ago definitely sits among my favorite moments of the trip.

Tomorrow, the women of the school are going on a retreat of sorts to another agriturismo but this time in Maremma, the beach region of Tuscany. We'll be visiting a park and going on a wine tasting and I've heard rumors that the food is out of this world! You'll get another update later. But for more pictures of Rome, check out "Le Fotografie" under links.

Buona giornata!

On a "Schedule"

I guess I can say that the itinerary has been a bit open. It literally reads: “We’ll be doing a little sightseeing, but mostly time will be spent getting to know each other and talking about the semester.” And that’s exactly what we’ve been doing. While I’m enjoying the time to relax and get to know each other, it makes me realize how used I am to American “busy-ness.” I have caught myself four or five times over the past two days saying that I need something to do. That makes me a bit frustrated with myself, but I’m sure it’s just going to take some time to adjust. Not to mention that I’m still a bit jet lagged, so I’ll just blame that for now.

Today we went to Lucca which ended up being kind of miserable. I imagine that it’s normally a beautiful place, but there were a handful of things that weren’t so great: 1) it was cold; 2) it was raining…torrentially; 3) we were walking around lost in the down pour for about 45 minutes; 4) the bus driver was a speed-demon and talking on the phone while playing chicken with tiny Italian cars. Some of us really felt like we were flying while others got used to the feeling of our stomachs in our throats. Bonus: I learned the Italian word for roller coaster (le montagne russe, aka the Russian mountains).

But we going back to our time in Lucca, I really enjoyed sitting al bar drinking tea and coffee with everyone and simply talking. I also found it very entertaining to watch people watching us. Not only are we a sizable group of Americans, but by chance we are all women. You can just imagine the range of looks from confusion to awe. After the bar, we went to the Duomo in Lucca and Lucia, a really awesome woman who works at the school, gave us a lecture about the Church, numbers, and self-development. It was mind-boggling to me to hear her speak about how an individual has to find balance between the good and the bad of life, much like the theories I’ve learned about in Buddhism and traditional Chinese religions. It just goes to show you how people are people no matter where they are. Below are a few pictures from the church. The one on the bottom is a labyrinth showing that one must start “in the hearth” and move outward in personal growth and that sometimes you have to change your path. Truly inspiring.

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Arrivo!

Buon giorno tutti! I’m here and everything’s great. The trip really wasn’t so bad, and if I’m going to be honest, I’d have to say that I enjoyed it. My wonderful, gracious family took time from work and school to join me at the airport for my final hours in America. I went through security swiftly, through a few air kisses back to the ‘rents and fratellino, and hung out at the gate for a while. At first, I was a little upset to find out that my seat was the last row on an aisle, but boy was I surprised. This wasn’t any plane, but an “air bus” with personal touch screen televisions with our choices of movies, TV shows, and music. Not to mention I had the window and aisle all to myself and the best airplane food I’ve ever had. Che fortuna!

I met a guy from Bulgaria across the aisle who was so intriguing that neither of us slept on the entire 8 hours! We would come to regret this decision as the plane landed in Munich, but I enjoyed the company and how the time seemed to slip by. I rushed off to my next gate for the final leg to Pisa to find nothing but the usual Italian way: waiting. When we boarded the toy plane as I like to think of it, I should’ve known that the ride was going to be a bumpy one. I’ve never been scared of flying before but this particular pilot gave my nerves a run for their money. The flight was only 1.5 hours but with George Clooney’s look-alike sitting across the aisle who would expect me to fall asleep. I must say how utterly wonderful it was to be surrounded by Italian again. And already I’ve been mistaken for an Italian, but couldn’t keep up with the conversation and had to confess myself.

Once in the airport, I was met by a terrific group of women. Crazy as it may seem, but my ENTIRE program is other ladies from around the nation. We’ve been spending a lot of time getting to know each other and it really feels like we have a complimentary fit. I can’t wait to see what unfolds for us over these four months. But now, I’m getting ready to sleep after this long journey. They’ve put us up at questo agriturismo which is quite comfortable. I learned how to play a few Italian card games like Scopa, which was quite entertaining to say the least. And of course the food was good, although I almost fell asleep in my 4 course meal. So now vado a letto. Ciao ciao!