College is Over

So today I took my last final as an undergraduate. I can't believe it! I am done with college and about to start my European adventure. I leave for Capri tomorrow with my program. Then Monday I head to Dublin for St. Patty's Day, London, Paris, then Spain for about ten days, then on to Nice, Portofino, Cinque Terra, and back to Rome. Quite the whirlwind adventure.

I think I am still in disbelief that I am done with college. We all went out for drinks and lunch this afternoon and it is finally starting to hit me that I am about to leave Rome. And leaving Rome means leaving my computer, so I will only be able to write when I find internet access. So right now is going to be all or nothing. 

I am pretty darn scared about my adventure but I know it is going to be amazing. It kind of feels like all of those times I have been scared to do things and mom has pushed me and then I end up doing them and having the time of my life. Except this time I don't have mom to fall back on. Its only me and thats all I have to go one. Kelly is traveling with me and we have things pretty well figured out, but it is still weird. Weird to be traveling all over Europe with nothing but a backpack. But I'm sure i'll manage. Please don't judge if I come home smelling a little funny. By the way, I'll be back in Phoenix on April 20th and most likely back in Seattle on May 13th. If all goes as planned. I should be in Seattle for a good bit of time before graduation, and then once again in June for the big ceremony.

By the way, for those of you who may not know, I am leaving Seattle and moving back to Tempe. I accepted a position as an elementary school teacher with Teach for America. So I will spend the next two years of my life teaching in low-income schools in the Phoenix area. Should be quite the adventure. Maybe even more so than my journey around Europe. And I will be coming back to my roots as a Sun Devil. I will be in grad school at ASU getting my masters in elementary education. 

Rome has been absolutely amazing. I can't believe that I have already been here for so long. Time really did fly by. The weather has gotten substantially better and today it was even warm and sunny. My apartment all bought shirts that read, "I love Rome" and we wore them around the city today, ate gelato and took pictures at all of the famous cites. Certainly a great way to end out stay here. 

So I guess thats it! I will try to write here as often as possible and check my email when I can. Luckily most hostels have internet and there are internet cafes everywhere! 

Cheers!

Let's Talk GELATO

Gelato is of course the most important food group in Italy. It is absolutely delicious and the perfect way to start or end your day.  Gelato can be at any time of the day. It is the perfect after lunch treat, mid-afternoon snack, and it makes a great dessert. Enough gelato can even qualify as a meal itself. There are plenty of gelato shops in Rome, just about an many as there are Starbucks in Seattle. Unfortunately, not all of them are fabulous. There are your typical chain gelato shops like Blue Ice which are great for a late night treat, but only a really late night, possibly after the bar. These shops are everywhere and unsuspecting Americans wander into to them quite frequently. We certainly did on our first few days here in Rome. We couldn't find the good places and we just had to have gelato. So we fell pray to the Blue Ice gelato gods. But alas, we discovered the best gelato in Rome. It is unlike anything you have ever tasted. Melts in your mouth, as perfect consistency and each new flavor is better than the last. This magical gelato shop is called Della Palma and is located just a few blocks from the Pantheon. Now you might ask yourself who Della Palma is my favorite gelato shops out of all the gelato shops in Rome. Well i'll tell you...

Della Palma has over 100 flavors. Yes you read that right, over 100 flavors and each and everyone of them is absolutely out of this world delicious! You can mix and match and never get the same flavor combination twice (but really I have found my favorites and have stuck to them.) And a cup or cone of two flavors of gelato is only 2 Euros! What a deal! I have tried many different flavors, but my favorite so far is crocalle de pistachio (probably isn't spelled right but it is vanilla with chocolate, carmel, pistachio, and some other random ingrediant which in the past has been heath bar, coconut, and marshmallow fluff.) Honey-almond comes in a close second and amarena, frutti de bosco, biscotti, and meringue are close behind. 

You simply can't get enough gelato in Rome. It is way too delicious to have only a few times. It is simply a staple of Italy cuisine, quite like pasta...everyone loves it! Now go out and get some of that American Ice cream because I bet you are salivating after reading this. It will be good, but probably not as good as the gelato from Della Palma!

Il Fornaio

So there is a great bakery just around the corner from my apartment. They also do quite a bit more than just bake. They have great pizza and sandwiches. They make their sandwiches with the biggest salami I have ever seen in my entire life. It sits just outside the store in a glass case and someone comes out and cuts it each time they need some. We know that they have gone through at least 3 salamis since we have been here because it gets smaller and then bigger. When mom was here she didn't believe me that it is actually there and they use it, so I took a picture. I will try to take more pictures as it gets smaller. 

Just some pictures!

Square in Florence on a beautiful day!
Duomo in Florence
View from the top of the Duomo
On the Ponte Vecchio
looking at the Ponte Vecchio
Riding Bikes in Borghese!
More Bike fun!
Our Bike, I got to drive!

Climbing the tree is Testacchio
The view from Testacchio
For your enjoyment! Cheers!

Florence, the second time around

So I decided to go back to Florence because last time I was there it was pouring rain and I had a little falling incident, go figure. But David's friend is studying abroad in Florence so I had a place to stay, all I had to do was get myself there. So I hoped on the Eurostar train at Termini and headed to Florence. Lauren was in class when I arrived in Florence so I spent about a hour wandering around and asking everyone in a Northface jacket (a northface jacket almost always means they are american and therefore speak English) where the street was that I needed to find. I eventually found Lauren and headed to her apartment. We at dinner and crashed, ready for our fun filled day.

On Friday we woke up to the most beautiful day. The sun was shinning, birds were chirping, and everything was fantastic! First Lauren and I walked to San Lorenzo leather market to do some shopping. I had a laundry list of things to get people at our favorite leather store. I got a great leather clutch, a present for Vanessa, and lots of things for friends back in Rome. Next we went to the Ponte Vecchio to get some gloves for mom and wandered around a little more. I bought a few bottles of Tuscan wine and we dropped everything off at Laurens. Then we grabbed a bite to eat and climbed up the Duomo, all 463 steps of it. The climb was totally worth it because it was a fabulous view and a great day to be up there.  

Italians know how to eat!

Now that I have been in Italy for just over nine weeks, I can say one thing for sure, Italy wins the food wars! The food here is unbelievable, yet everyone (and I mean most people) remain ridiculously thin! It is the most amazing thing! Everything is bread or meat or cheese or soaked in olive oil, but you can't seem to ever get enough. Plus, there are so many little open air markets, quite like the one that occurs six days a week just out side my front door, that there are fresh fruits and veggies every where. It is the most amazing thing I have ever seen. Food, good food, a cook's paradise, just sitting here, waiting to be used.

Because of all of the wonderful food and amazing ingredients, I have been able to do my fair share of cooking. My new favorite thing to make is soup. I make all kinds of soups. I started out with just a little chicken noodle, but I have progressed up to a sausage soup (of course made with sausage from our favorite deli) and now I have been making tomato based vegetable soups (and of course I make my own tomato base.) They are delicious, I love having a nice hot bowl of soup for dinner. And top it off with a loaf of Forno's famous olive bread, mom you know what I am talking about, and you've got yourself a meal!

There are a few other staples that I have lived off of while in Rome. I basically always have cheery tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil laying around, makes for the perfect snack! Can't get enough of it. I also like getting focaccia sandwiches just around the corner from my place. My favorite is eggplant with cheese! Forno also has great pizza, thin crust of course! But my favorite pizza place thus far is over the Ponte Sisto in Trestevere. I'm not even positive what its called, I think it is La Renalla, but I might be wrong. They have thin and think crust pizza with everything on it you can imagine. My favorites are spinach with cheese or sausage. I took my mom there while she was here and she loved it. Its a great little place to sit and each and enjoy the locals. 

There are so many other amazing places to eat and I am getting rather tired. It's almost 2:30AM here and I have class in the morning. Plus I was us pretty late last night, we went to a bar called Big Hilda's Cafe. I have no idea why! Gelato will be my next food entry for sure, it is pretty amazing. But I will have to save time to write about the great restaurants, the coffee, and of course the wine!  Before I leave Rome I will have to write about all of the places I get my groceries and all of the interesting people I have met along the way doing so. And I also have to write a little more about all of the food I have been cooking and the recipes I have been inventing!

Until next time...

Cheers!

Benissimo...

View from the keyhole, this is incredible! It really is tiny and has the most amazing view... pretty much looks like a postcard!

             Sperlonga!




   Bernini's St. Teresa in Ecstasy 

What a wonderful last few days. I never thought anything could beat Venice but the last few days have done just that! We all turned in a huge paper on Wednesday and proceeded to celebrate till the sun came up on Thursday. One Thursday we went to a hew Churches, one of which was where Robert Langdon in Angels and Demons in order to save one of the Cardinals. We were at the Santa Maria dell Vittoria church with the Bernini sculpture of St. Teresa in Ecstasy. This sculpture was too "risque" for the Vatican,  so it had to be put somewhere else in Rome. But it is a wonderful sculpture. The rest of Thursday we simply recovered from the night before.

On Friday we went on a group excursion to Sperlonga, a beach town about an hour and a half south of Rome. We had the best weather possible! We walked along the beach with our shoes off, it was so nice to feel the sand in my toes and stick my feet in the water. We also visit the ancient "play house grotto" of Tiberias. And we ate a fabulous lunch overlooking the water. Couldn't have been a better day!

On Saturday, a bunch of us decided to be real tourists for the day and go explore Rome. We started off by heading over to the market in Testaccio. This market is a lot like the Campo but has more locals and a lot less tourists, therefore it is much cheaper! We got all sorts of fresh fruits and veggies plus dried fruit and nuts. After the market we headed up to Aventine Hill to check out the "keyhole." The "keyhole" is an actually keyhole in a door built by the Priory Knights of Malta. When you look through the keyhole there is an absolutely magnificent view of St. Peter's Basilica. It is hard to believe that this view is from a little tiny keyhole. We then headed back to the apartment to drop off our groceries and pick up some sandwiches from our favorite deli. And then went on to the Spanish steps. We picked up a few beers, sat in the sun, and ate our sandwiches right on the steps. It was such a beautiful day and it felt like the rest of Rome was sitting on the steps too! After our relaxing lunch we went up to the Borghese gardens and rented bikes. Now these aren't regular bikes, they are four person little "car" looking bikes. We rode around but it was very difficult because the park was INCREDIBLY crowded and avoiding people became quite difficult. But we had a blast. Our great day ended with iced coffee and a wonderful dinner! Can't wait for tomorrow!

Pictures from Venice

They are so extravagant!

     The mask I wore out for Carnivale

Our waiter who also showed us around for Carnivle

On the Rialto Bridge

the grand canal

        Around the Grand Canal!

Trying on the perfect mask!

   Our gondola ride at sunset

     The most intense costumes I have ever seen!

     On top of the Campanile in St. Mark's Square.

View from the top of the Campanile

more costumes...

In St. Mark's Square

Campanile

Welcome to Venice!

Maybe the pictures can describe what happened, because I sure can't put words to the madness that was Carnivale in Venice!

Canals, Masks, Gondolas...Carnivale, Venice 2009

Wow, it has been a whirlwind last few days. This weekend I went with two other girls from my apartment to Venice for Carnivale. We really didn't know what to expect and to be honest, I still don't know if I have the right words to describe it. Pretty much not like anything in the US that anyone has every seen. Carnivale is in a category of its own. 

The weekend started on Thursday with a nice train ride up to Venice. It is a little more than a four hour ride, so we got some reading in a took a little nap to catch up on our lack of sleep. When we finally arrived in Venice I thought I was in Disneyland but I had no idea what was to come. It was like we stepped right into the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland. We got on a Vaparetto, pretty much the Venice equivalent of a bus but on the water, and took it to our hotel. We stayed at a fabulous little hotel, Hotel Campiello,  just two blocks from St. Mark's Square. When we finally made it to the hotel, we dropped our bags and headed out to get a bite to eat. The three of us were on a mission to find good seafood and we were successful. We found a little place in San Marco with great clam and mussel pasta. After dinner we grabbed a bottle of wine and headed back to our hotel. We ended up drinking our wine with our professor and her husband who were coincidentally staying the same hotel. After our late night happy hour, the three of us decided to go out on the town in Venice. Unfortunately, Venice is a rather sleepy little town most of the time. So we wandered and eventually wandered back to our hotel.

On Friday we woke up early, indulged in the free breakfast at our hotel and headed out to do some site seeing. It was an absolutely gorgeous day in Venice. We went up to the top of the Campanile and then into the Doge's Palace and then just hung out in St. Mark's Square. The area was full of people dressed up in amazing costumes. We spent the rest of the day walking around and taking in the sites of Venice. And we finished our day with a fabulous sunset gondola ride. 

Saturday was the big day...Carnivale! The streets were absolutely packed, you could barely move. And EVERYONE was dressed up in costumes. There were some of the most magnificent costumes I have ever seen. Anything and everything. We spent the day wandering around and picking out some Murano glass and we all bought masks to wear out that evening. We stopped for some lunch at a little pizza place and the waiter seemed to like us a lot. So we asked him what we should do for Carnivale that night. He told us to meet him back here later and he would show us around. So we went on with the rest of the day and met up with him later that night. And Carnivale isn't just one place or one bar, it is the entire city. I can't even describe it. People were walking around town with bottles in their hands. Throwing the bottles when they were finished. The ground was littered with glass and confetti. We walked around with our new friend and had a great time. We saw fireworks, crazy people, and of course the most amazing costumes.

I still can't put everything I saw into words. It was just unreal. But an amazing thing to experience. Venice is an amazing city. It was really nice to be out of Rome and away from the city with all the cars. 

 

Finally reached Mecca!

Or at least from an art historian's point of view I reached Mecca today. After seven weeks in Rome I finally made it to the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel. Now you may ask yourself why I waited so long to see what everyone else raises to Rome to see. I had already ventured over to Vatican city numerous other times to see St. Peters and Castel St. Angelo. But I waited very patiently because my program paid for it and I had a very knowledgeable guide to enhance the experience. And even better, we got to wear these cool secret agent, think Jack Bauer, type headsets so we could hear our tour guide. And the best part, we could take them out of our ears when we didn't want to listen anymore! Now I don't think life gets much better than that!

But before I even think of talking about the actual art in the Vatican Museum, I first have to tell everyone about how fabulous today was in Rome. We were taking our Vatican tour in the afternoon, which is the opposite from our usual morning Roman civilization classes, so we got to sleep in and enjoy ourselves. As I've mentioned earlier, Rome has been VERY rainy and cold. We've even had hail and the Tiber River is getting rather high. But today we woke up to the most gorgeous sunny day. The pope himself couldn't have ordered better weather. So I sat outside at the bar, and by bar I mean coffee and food place, and drank a cappuccino and did some reading in the SUN! I didn't even need to have my coat on. It was absolutely incredible. 

After the perfect sunny morning it was time for the Vatican. The Vatican Museums are very interesting because you would think that the Vatican would not have art from the antiquity. Because Catholicism doesn't real match with the polytheistic religion of the ancient Romans. But the popes wanted to show the power of the antiquity, so they have filled their museum with the largest collection of ancient Roman art. It is interesting to see the ancient art because a lot of the art from the Renaissance was based on art from the antiquity. After looking at all of the really old stuff we got to the art from the Renaissance. Architecture from Bramate and the art of Raphael and Michelangelo. I loved seeing the School of Athens in the pope's library.

But by far the most extravagant part of the Vatican Museum was the SISTINE CHAPEL! After taking so many art history classes and spending hours of my life writing papers about it, I can't believe I actually was able to stand in the Sistine Chapel and it is totally worth it to have a sore neck! Everything was perfect. The ceiling where Michelangelo depicted scenes from Genesis to his Last Judgement on the wall of the chapel. It was the most amazing thing I have ever seen. But I have no pictures because you can't take pictures inside. And I wasn't about to sneak pictures. Plus, I was in such shock that I was actually there, that I didn't even think about my camera! Just an amazing place.

And what kind of amazing day wouldn't end with drinks and dinner with good friends at our favorite Irish Pub in Rome. We headed over to the Scholars Lounge from the Vatican to relax and have a drink. What a fabulous day!

And I'm headed to Venice this weekend for Carnivale!

 

Valentine's Day in Italy

We spent the day in Tivoli!

Don't let the sun go down on me

After days and day of rain and even hail, the sun finally made an appearance in Rome. We have been waiting out entire time for a day like today, sunny all day! We had class this morning but got out early so we could enjoy the sun. Though it was sunny, there was quite a bite to the air but it was well worth it. A few of us went for a walk past Trestavere and into the hills beyond and came across some wonderful views of Rome. Rome comes alive in the sun, much like Seattle does. It is hard to describe in words, but the city is absolutely amazing! Plans for this coming weekend include a volunteer projects, a day trip to Tivoli, and who could forget...a Valentines Day Party! 

I am past the half way point in my program but I've still got lots of time left in Europe. Kelly and I pretty much have our travel plans all figured out at this point. We are starting in Dublin for St. Patrick's day, then headed to London, Bruges/Amsterdam, Paris, Sevilla/Granada/Barcelona, Portofino/Cinque Terra and finally back to Rome. It should be amazing! Let me know if you have any suggestions!

Rain Rain Go Away

The clouds in Positano
Beach in Positano
Katie and I on the beach
Mom and I on the beach
Positano

In front of St. Peters
on top of the Castel St. Angelo
with out audio guides
with mom

So basically it pretty much looks like Seattle in Rome. It hasn't really stopped raining since we got here way back in January. There have been those few occasional days of sun and some sunny spots mixed in, but for the most part, Rome has been pounded by rain. So much rain that the Tiber river is over flowing! The only positive side of rain is that, like Seattle, the cloud cover keeps things a lot warmer. So even when it is bright and sunny outside, it is absolutely FREEZING! We have managed to take advantage of the few sunny days and brave the cold by going on some walks. Yesterday we walked from the Campo de' fiori to Piazza Navona then to the Pantheon, we wandered our way through some neighborhoods to the Termini train station. Behind the train station is the University of Rome, which looks nothing like the UW. Then we made our way back past Victor Emanuel and eventually back to our apartment. One heck of a long walk, about 4 and a half hours, but well worth it. And I'm glad we did it yesterday because once again, it is raining today. 

Mom was here this past weekend. We had a great time hanging around Rome and on Saturday we went Pompeii, Positano, and Naples. It was a fabulous day and it was fun to get away from Rome. We explored Pompeii for a while and then headed down to Positano which was beautiful. We stopped by a roadside stand and bought some delicious mandarine oranges and tomatoes. Our day ended with pizza and beer in Naples, real Italian pizza.

On Sunday we went to the Porto Portese flea market which was quite the experience. Lots of crap followed by even more crap. Pretty much if we wanted kitchen supplies, cheap clothes, or scarves, that was the place. And once again, it rained like hell. Thank goodness for umbrellas. We also went to a bar to watch Roma play Genoa in a soccer game. It was really interesting to see how people act in a bar here versus in the US. In Rome, nobody talks during the games, the only loud cheering is when one team scores a goal and thats it! But it was a fun game to watch, especially because Rome won!

And to round out the trip nicely I made dinner for my mom on Sunday night. We made fresh tomato sauce out of the tomatoes we bought in Positano which was delicious. I also sauteed lots of veggies and our favorite Italian sausage. Put the entire thing together with some pasta and it was perfect. Especially with a little wine and bread. A perfect way to end a great weekend.

Last night was the 21st birthday of one of the guys in my program so we all went out for some fun. It was really neat to have my entire program out together, even with one of our professors. The night seemed to go on forever but we all had a great time. And we are having a Valentines Day party at our apartment on Saturday, can't wait!