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!

Eurochocolate!

Before photos from the past week/weekend, I have some exciting news! Well, exciting news for me? I'm flying back to the Bay Area on Dec 24th instead of Dec 27th, which means I will be flying down to San Diego around Dec 27th. This will give me time to settle in before school starts. Hopefully I will have time to hang out with friends in the Bay Area and give presents before I go back to San Diego. Will anyone be in San Diego on the 27th? I might change my flight to Dec 18th depending on my travel plans with Mandy.

Now to the photos! I have not uploaded these onto Facebook yet because it takes too long and my internet in my apartment is still not working properly/ever. These pictures are in reverse chronological order because that's how Blogger posts photos (and I don't know how to change it).

Sunday night: Amazing bakery! Everything is about 50 cents Euro, meaning VERY CHEAP. I plan on taking Mandy here when she comes to visit. The best part about it? It's open 24 hours, 7 days a week.

Sunday morning: Myself in front of the beautiful Tibertina Island with my new sunglasses that I bought at Porta Portese (the biggest street/fleamarket you will ever find). I might take Mandy to Porta Portese depending on when it opens and how early we plan on getting up before her flight.

Saturday: Beautiful Perugia. Perugia is in Northern Italy in the countryside. This was the location of Eurochocolate 2007, an international chocolate festival.

Saturday: Uh, salami and baci chocolate bar? It wasn't actually real. They just sold salami in honor of chocolate? I didn't really understand it. I wish it were real so I could taste it.

Saturday: Playstation was also at Eurochocolate. Here is a Playstation 3 carved out of chocolate next to 2 real Playstation 3's. I got to eat a piece of this delicious Playstation 3.

Saturday: Me & the Eurochocolate sign. The poster reminds me of Disneyland for some reason.

Friday: Ostia Antica is an ancient Roman city, much like Pompeii. The entire city has been preserved although not in nearly the same condition as Pompeii. This picture was taken from the top of an ancient apartment complex. The photo shows more apartment buildings and the central courtyard.

Wednesday: We went to see the Ara Pacis and it turns out the Valentino exhibit was also there! Che forte! (Italian for "How cool!") The Ara Pacis was cool and I'll post the photos on Facebook when I have time, but I thought the Valentino exhibit was even better. There were tons of beautiful gowns, Valentino's sketches, dresses worn by celebrities (including Audrey Hepburn). Best part? I got to go for free and during class time!

Tuesday: The Colosseum is pretty much the epitome of Rome, or at least the face of most postcards. Here are the undergound structures excavated by archaeologists showing the gladiators' dressing rooms and animal cages.

Tuesday: The view of the Colosseum from above. It was amazing to see all the walkways and this great architectural feat. Unfortunately, I had to rush through this because I had Italian class that same morning (which I ended up being 5 minutes late for anyway).

So, that's my last week in Rome in a nutshell. I bought so much stuff for people. I bought 2 ties for my dad, a pashmina shawl/scarf for both my mom and stepmom, a purse for Holly, a pack of 99% pure chocolate for Yasha, a scarf and a pair of sunglasses for myself, a pack of chocolate pasta for Kendal, a pack of chocolate pasta for Holly (if she wants it), and some chocolate bars for myself. I also bought ballet tickets for Peer Gynt. It was only 25 Euros per ticket (one for me, one for Mandy) for the best section, Platea, because we are students! Students get a 50% discount which is pretty awesome.

This week I am going to the Palazzo Massimo to see Roman wall paintings, Celano to visit a rural potato farming community, and H&M. There is less traveling this week, but I'm sure it will be equally hectic. I have midterms and projects due soon, so I will be doing a lot of studying. See everyone soon!

Classes in Rome

Mondays & Wednesdays:
11.30-1.30 Culture & Identity in Modern Italy
2.00-4.00 Roman Art
4.30-6.30 Ancient Roman Civilization

Tuesdays & Thursdays:
11.30-1.30 Italian (3rd quarter)

Photos Long Overdue

La Notte Bianca - Acrobats in Piazza Del Popolo

La Notte Bianca - Circo Massimo

Las Du Fallafel - Paris, France and recommended by Lenny Kravitz

Glasgow Science Center - BIG CHESS!

Glasgow, Scotland - MEAT PIES!

London, England - TELEPHONE BOOTH, calling Mandy

London, England - Mandy in front of the tiny cottage

Trafalagar Square - Being a pigeon lady

London, England - Mandy and I with a Horse Guard

London, England - Myself as the Queen

London, England - Mandy as Princess Diana

Palantine Hill and Sight-Seeing

Today I went to the Palantine Hill for my Ancient Roman Civilization class. Unfortunately I did not take any photos because I was too busy taking notes. However, I believe I will be going back in December for another class field trip. I will hopefully take photos when I go back. I'm actually pretty excited to go back because I won't be stressed about taking notes. When we go back, we will also have access to two underground rooms which are closed off from the public. These rooms are supposed to have amazing Roman wall paintings. It's amazing to see buildings that have lasted through CENTURIES. Augustus/Octavian first established it as an imperial residence in the 1st century BC. There are still many walls and structures left over, especially the underground sites. Underground sites were not always underground, but slowly the ground level has changed through the centuries. The best part? They have not finished excavating the hill! Anyway, it's amazing that once you enter the hill, all the traffic and city noises just disappear. The Palantine (one of the 7 hills of Rome) is quiet and much greener than the rest of the city. It's quite lovely.

Tomorrow morning I will be going to the Colosseum. Wednesday I am going to see the Ara Pacis and Augustus's Mausoleum. Friday I am going to Ostia Antica (a port town on the coast of Italy). Saturday I am going to Perugia (north of Rome) for a chocolate festival. Sunday I will be sight-seeing (for homework) the following: Via Appia Antica and the catacombs, Baths of Diocletian, and Pyramide. LOTS of sight-seeing, so be prepared for lots of photos.

Basically, ROME IS AMAZING! By the way, I'm going to buy 20 postcards for only ONE EURO tomorrow morning. So all the postcards I've promised will be coming! Apparently the H&M in Germany had a sale where everything was 2 euros. I'm going to try the H&M in Rome to see if the sale is here too. I hope so!