I am Alive!

Wow, this post is long overdue. I am sure everyone wants to see pictures of Italy...and now I shall deliver. It is hard to post a blog at an internet café, so I have been patiently waiting for my chance. And I finally have it Now that I am in Sienna. So I should probably update, what I have been up too. So my first day in Rome I went to the colosseum and almost fell asleep standing up thanks to jet lag. However, I was able to wake up for the Roman Forum which is AMAZING. The Forum is essentially ancient Rome. It is the Rome for Julius César and the birthplace of western civilization. So it’s a bit nerdy, but I loved the idea that I was walking where history was made. It was great to think that it was there where I was standing that Cesar was killed, temples stood, and there was once a thriving civilization. By the time the group finished up with the Forum, we were so tired that we took the metro back to the hotel and got dinner. I was out at 10pm.

Sunday, we went to church. And it was in Italian. The ward was small and our study abroad group doubled the size of the ward. But it was great to sing hymns in Italian and try to understand the speakers. After church we went to St. Peters Basilica. We were able to walk around the ornate church. It really is an amazing place. I was able to see my one of my favorite statues; Michael Angelo’s’ Mary and Christ. It is beautiful to see. I climbed all 521 stairs to the top of St. Peters dome. Which from the ground to the top of the dome is longer than a foot ball field…except it was all stairs. My legs were shaking after. At the top of the dome we could see all of Rome. It was fantastic and worth the work out. Climbing made me and some of the other girls tired so we went back to the hotel to rest. For dinner, we took the metro to the Spanish steps and ate at a restaurant on the second floor that overlooked the steps. It was very pretty and a lot of fun. By coincidence, there was a 10k race in front of the Spanish steps. It was fun to watch and reminded me of Nathan. (I started talking to Nathan at institute when I heard he ran the LA Marathon…I thought it was amazing that it was his second time.) After dinner I walked to Trevi fountain and there we ran into other girls from our group. We walked with them back to the Spanish steps and from there we took the metro back to the hotel and ended another long night.

Monday the group went to the Vatican museum. The museum is just as amazing as St. Peters. There are so many wonderful pieces of art it is amazing. This time I was able to see parts of the museum that most people don’t attend like the early Christian art…which was amazing. I still saw the Sistine chapel and got a neck cramp from looking up for so long. My professor showed us around the art gallery and taught us how to describe art. I viewed an incomplete Da Vinci painting. It was cool to see the parts that were still a sketch and the painted parts all in one. After the Vatican it was time for some shopping…I didn’t spend that much either (around $23 on a coat its cute!)Anyways…me and a few friends took the metro to the old city walls and there I found La Scala Sancta (Holy Staircase). Basically, the staircase was taken from Jerusalem in 320 AD by Constantine mother, St. Helen. It is believed that these steps were walked by Christ the day of his crucifixion. The marble staircase is covered with wood planks and you are only allowed to crawl up…which I think is good, it allows people to contemplate the atonement. It was a good experience and I was glad I was able to go because it is not an average tourist place.

Tuesday, my last day in Rome, started by viewing a Caravaggio painting In a church in the Pizza del Poppol, actually it’s the church in Angels in Demons where they find the Earth branding. Then we were off to the Borghese gallery. I was excited to come there because my favorite sculpture is there. I fell in love with the sculpture of Apollo and Daphne when I first saw its picture. I decided that Bernini is amazing! His control over marble to produce this beautiful image, was amazing. There is a strong life like quality in his work that I keep waiting for one of his statues to move. I was so happy that I was able to see more works from Caravaggio and Bernini and comparing the two artist and there points of view. Fowling the art gallery, My professor, Peter, took the students to Trevi fountain, the Pantheon, another art gallery, and one more church to see another Caravaggio painting. The last painting was amazing. I can’t remember the name however, Christ and peter were dressed in clothes of their time and Christ points to Mathew who is dressed in Caravaggio’s time. It’s an interesting painting. And I enjoyed it a lot. Then a few girls and I went to another church to see Bernini’s Ecstasy of St. Teresa. That was beautiful as well. The day was long tiring but a lot of fun for a last night in Rome.

Wednesday we drove to Naples and visited the National Archaeological Museum there. I was able to see artifacts that they discovered from Pompeii and Herculaneum. It was very interesting to see some of the jewelry and preserved food. I even did a little sketching too. From the museum the group went to Herculaneum. Now Herculaneum is a smaller town, where more wealthy people have lived than Pompeii. Furthermore, Herculaneum is better preserved because it was buried from the bottom up in mud and better preserved. It was nice to see some of the mosaics. I thought it was amazing to see how deep the city was buried as well. After Herculaneum, I almost died on our way to Minori. We took our big buss up a little curvy rode up a mountain. It was kinda scary, but worked out when we made it to Minori which is on the Amalfi coast.

Thursday the group went to Pompeii, and since it was my second time going there I didn’t take that many pictures. However, I was able to explore the ancient city more and learn new facts. Pompeii is larger than Herculaneum however it was buried from the top down causing roofs to collapse so it is not preserved as well as Herculaneum. It was still nice to see their versions of fast food, election posters, and remains of a once thriving civilization. And once we were back in Minori it was time to finally hit the beach. It was nice to swim in warm water.

Friday was a free day and me and a few girls went to the island of Capri. The whole trip was a little pricey but well worth it. We took a little boat around the whole island. We were able to go inside the blue grotto and that was amazing. Inside the water glowed an electric blue. It was fantastic. It was fun a fun trip and I am glad that I was able to do it.

Saturday the group left Minori early and went down to another ancient site which I cant spell the name. But anyways, there we were able to see some temples and at the museum we viewed some interesting frescoes. Then we were on the bus for a 7 hr drive to Sienna.

There was a bit of a switch around with families but it is ok now. I live inside the city 2min from the main square with a retired lady who doesn’t speak any English. She is a great cook…she owned her own restaurant for a while. But she really wants my roommate and I to learn Italian and pushes us to learn new words. Its hard because you never know if she is yelling at you because Italians are very pushy and emotional when they speak. But hopefully I can get the language down and eliminate some of the awkward moments.

I will try to keep this blog updated with my travels….Internet is hard to find for my laptop but I will do my best.

I miss everyone a lot….especially Nathan.

But I’m having a great time. I will keep you updated.

Ciao