Break 2, Birthday Weekend, Barcelona

Seeing as I have not updated for a month, there is a lot to say. I guess I will go chronologically in order to not forget anything.

October 19 - I went on a field trip to Celano, a small farming community and town in central Italy. I went with my anthropology class and it was actually much more interesting than I thought it would be. We visited a castle, a few churches, and finally the farming community in the drained lake bed.

October 25 through November 3 - This was our second break from school. I decided to travel around Northern Italy instead of leaving the country. First I went to Siena and I stayed with my friend Maria. Siena is a medieval town south of Florence and it was a very nice change from Rome. I got to see the different contradas which I had learned about in my anthropology class. I also had an amazing kiwi gelato at their Campo. The Duomo also had amazing floor mosaics, a Michelangelo altar, and a Bernini altar piece. After Siena I took the train to Venice. I met up with my roommate Kate and her family. Her family was super generous and very very nice. Her parents were really hilarious. Venice is probably the most beautiful city on earth. It reminded me of the New Orleans quarter in Disneyland. I bought tons of souvenirs for family (murano glass, obviously) and I went to the Guggenheim museum which was small but very amazing. It had a very good collection of work for such a small museum. Peggy Guggenheim is also buried there which I thought was cool. After Venice, I went to Florence. I stayed with Rachael in Florence. She has the most amazing apartment. She lived right next to the Ponte Vecchio and had a balcony overlooking the river and bridge. It amazes me constantly that every single Italian city is completely different from the other. Rome is ancient, Siena is medieval, Florence is renaissance, and Venice is just one of a kind. I went to the Accademia to see David and the Uffizi. I spent an hour in the Botticelli room in the Uffizi because it was that good. It is one thing to see a print or reproduction, it's another thing to see the painting in person. In addition, I saw the Ponte Vecchio and the Duomo. I also went to Santa Maria Novella, a church, and it was also beautiful. Once again, I bought souvenirs for family at their open air markets. When I finally got back to Rome, I showed Julia and Maureen around the city.

November 8 - Mandy arrived in Rome and the birthday weekend began! We did lots of walking around and site-seeing: Piazza del Popolo, Santa Maria del Popolo, Villa Borghese (park), Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain. We went to the Hard Rock Cafe for my birthday dinner and it was delicious. It's probably the best meal I've had in Rome. The portions were American sized which meant that they were gigantic. I haven't been that full since I got to Rome.

November 9 - Mandy and I went site-seeing. We climbed to the top of Saint Peter's Basilica and saw a couple Michelangelos. At night we went to the ballet at the Teatro dell'Opera (the main opera house in Rome). We saw Peer Gynt which was amazing - the dancing, the dancers, the music, and the set. It's the first ballet I've ever seen live so I was very impressed. The opera house itself was very ornate and beautiful.

November 10 - I had a field trip to Hadrian's Villa, which is a villa preserved from the 1st century AD in the time of Hadrian. Visitors are not allowed on field trips, but I brought Mandy anyway. It was nice to see the architecture of a villa and how large they actually were. The best part of the villa was this man-made lake with an outdoor dining room. After this, Mandy and I went site-seeing some more: Colosseum, Roman Forum, etc.

November 15 through November 18 - I visited Sarah in Barcelona! I got there Thursday night and for some reason a lot of the stores were closed. However, I still got to eat a Catalonian dinner (some kind of stuffed meat dish) and afterwards we went to this delicious coffee place and had cafe con leche and crepes. The next day, we went to the Miro museum and we went to Razzmatazz. We were at Razzmatazz, a discoteca, from 1 am to 5am so when we got home we were very tired. On the bus ride back, I got to eat some very delicious churros. The next day we went to Park Guell which is probably my favorite place in Barcelona. Of course, being with Sarah, we took a million pictures in the park. Too bad I didn't recognize Park Guell from America's Next Top Model, otherwise more pictures would have been taken! We also saw a lot of other Gaudi buildings. Unfortunately I cannot name them because I will completely butcher the spelling. For dinner we had tapas, which was exciting, because it's very Barcelona thing to do. I wish I had more time in Barcelona because there were many museums, particularly the Picasso and Museum of Contemporary Art, that I did not get to visit and I would have liked to see some of the Gaudi buildings in the daylight. Also, the Magic Fountain was not working.

I promise I will post pictures soon! I have lots of essays and projects coming up and unfortunately I am not on vacation, but I am actually in school. I am excited to have lunch with Mariela this Wednesday; she's visiting from Cairo, Egypt. I am also planning on visiting the Rothko/Kubrick exhibit Thursday and the Pop Art exhibit Friday at two separate museums. Also, I have a field trip to the Auditorium of Maecenus and Monte Testaccio on Friday. I have an all day field trip to Pompeii on Saturday which I am very excited for. Finally, this Sunday the Vatican Museum is free so I will be waking up early to attend that! I think I may also be attending an opera this week - Moses in Egypt - which I am very excited about as well. In all this craziness, I promise to upload some photos here from the past month.

I only have one more month in Rome, so I am trying to do as much as possible! See everyone in the Bay Area on December 24th and in San Diego on December 28th!