Sooooooo Behind (Part II: Dad's Visit, Thanksgiving, Chianti)

As promised, I came crawling back... perhaps not as punctually as I may have indicated, but have I given any reason to expect more from me at this point?

I will touch on everything indicated in the title, but first I would just like to make a statement on how crazy Italy is. It's no secret that they love to strike (a huge one is scheduled for tomorrow... all modes of transport from what I understand, though they like to call of strikes almost as much as they like to announce them, so it's really hard to take seriously. Total "Boy Who Called Wolf" situation...), and one of the most effective (or in any case, obnoxious) instances is going on right now. Meghan and Erin came home yesterday from shopping and were like, "Oh my God... taxi strike. They're all parked in Piazza Venezia. It's seriously like a parking lot, and no one can move." Piazza Venezia is a VERY significant plaza in the already confusing and hard to navigate Roman traffic system, so it being turned into a "parking lot" is just asking for disaster.

So this morning Meghan, Erin, and I head out for Italian class at 8 30. Metro's on time, the 60 bus shows up promptly and everything's going well... until at the last minute it veers away from the dreaded Piazza Venezia and thus from the stop that we need. Lazy and not entirely sure what was going on, hoping it would loop back around, we stand (well, sit) our ground. Eventually we were in completely uncharted territory, and I made the realization that it was just continuing its route with no intention of going to our stop. We end up getting off, taking another bus to the absolute end of the Metro line, taking the metro BACK to Colosseo (which is about where the bus started going off course), and walking the 20 minutes from there to school. In the time we were traveling, a train could have gotten us to Florence and a plane could have gotten us to Oktoberfest. Needless to say, we missed Italian, but no one really held it against us. Piazza Venezia is in reality at this point navigable (if a little crowded), but not from the direction we were taking. Swarms of taxis are still parked all along the sides. Order is nonexistent. Ohhhh Italy.

So anyway, Dad's visit. It was really nice. He got in Thursday morning, I met him at the airport, and then it was a mission to keep him up and avoid the dreaded jetlag. Got off the metro at the Colosseum, walked through the Forum and on Capitol Hill, the Pantheon where we grabbed lunch/gelato at a place recommended to him by a friend, to Piazza Navona where we stopped in at school and he got the preliminary rundown of the kids in my program, Campo di Fiori where we picked up some parmesan and sausage, Jewish Ghetto, then settled in at a bar in Trastevere for a few hours because we had done considerable walking and it was starting to storm. Definitely a nice few hours catching up with the padre. Came home and picked up some groceries for dinner for our dear Meghan's pre-birthday dinner. Had a relaxing dinner/night in chatting with the roommates and Dad, and a good night's sleep before heading out to Florence. Dad curled up on the couch:).

Friday: Florence was great, if a little chilly. Sat with Kelly and Dan (and Dad, of course) on the train, grabbed some kebab/falafel with them and a few others, and when (after a few tries) we were able to assemble the whole group, headed out to the Accademia Galleria and Duomo. I was quite excited for both of these, but especially to finally see Michelangelo's acclaimed David in the Accademia (the picture is a copy that is outside the Uffizi museum... no photography allowed on the original). He was beautiful, and massive. The detail, accuracy, and expression were absolutely beyond belief, especially on such a large scale. The class soon split down the middle in an argument over whether the moment Michelangelo portrayed in the statue was directly before or after David slew (haha, I was going to say "slayed," but SpellCheck called me out so... "slew" it is) Goliath, but don't worry, it didn't get too heated... no blood drawn or anything. I personally think it's right before, but there are good arguments for either position.

The Duomo was, clearly, quite impressive as well. Perhaps the most impressive part was the 85 year old man who, after apologizing profusely for his lack of command of the English language, proceeded to give us a lengthy description of just about everything we could have wanted to know about in the church, in excellent English. However, we were all getting weary at this point, so when Dad assured our guide that we were in no rush, he could take his time with his explanations, even our dear Maurizio responded aggressively against it haha. Checked out the beautifully gold-adorned Baptistry right in front of the Duomo, headed to the Ponte Vecchio (the only bridge to survive WWII bombing) at twilight, and then chilly and tired decided to grab a drink and a small bite to eat at a little place, since our dinner reservations weren't until 9 30.


Checked out some shopping in the huge leather/other goods market in the San Lorenzo area, hit up the hotel to freshen up, then grabbed a few more drinks at an Irish pub to kill time before dinner. Dinner was phenomenal... Kathleen had been raving about this place "Za-Za" for ages, and so we had a huge group dinner in honor of Meghan's birthday there. Dad and I had some mushroom polenta as a starter, I had an awesome ravioli in truffle sauce dish, and I think everyone [else] had the pleasure of indulging in some of Erin and Aunt Meg's steak Florentine. The wine was plentiful, Big Scott surprised Meghan with some birthday champagne, Dan surprised Meghan with some birthday handcuffs, I was too full to indulge in any dessert but it looked fantastic, Dad and Aunt Meg got to talk politics and Nietzsche, and all in all it was just a great evening. A few of us went to go spoil Meghan a little further at a bar called "Spleen" (which I found hilarious), and then it was to the Colonel's Penthouse til we all decided it was bedtime.

In the morning the hotel absolutely reeked, which was unfortunate, and indeed there was a septic truck with a huge hose running up the staircase when it was time to leave. It was quite foul. Big Scott threw up... maybe twice haha. Saturday was dedicated to the Uffizi museum, which was jam-packed with all kinds of art (I was very glad to have seen Botticelli's Birth of Venus and Primavera, both of which we've studied in class, as well as some early/unfinished da Vincis), but it had been a long night and early morning for all of us, so after a little while our minds were pretty much just on hot chocolate and lunch. It was falafel/kebabs again for some of us, and then we hit up the market. I was quite pleased with my purchase of a Vespa bag and Fiat tshirt. Met up with Erin, Aunt Meg, Kelly, and Ben Curly, and then we just had to wait for our train. Ended up sitting with Little Scott and Katy on the train, made it home, and then Dad and I went to dinner at a little local place.

This is getting so long haha.... ughhhh that's what I get for never updating. Sunday we got up, on the metro, and walked from the Circus Maximus to Trastevere to catch mass at Santa Maria in Trastevere, the oldest church in Rome, according to Maurizio. It happened to be a significant day for that church, so mass was a little long, but there was a cool blessing or something in the middle and it was a neat experience in general. Then Dad and I headed to the huge Sunday flea market in Trastevere, which I had been meaning to get to for awhile (and actually went back to with Meghan and Erin this week), and by huge I mean absolutely enormous. And cool to check out, but a little over the top... stands and stands of the same (somewhat junky) stuff interspersed with worthwhile items. Dad also wanted to see the Vatican, so we did that afterwards, then Spanish Steps, then Trevi fountain, then shared a bottle of water at a place we stopped at so I could use the bathroom before we knew it was a huge ripoff for everything. It was still a bit early for dinner at this point, so we went to Trinity College pub for a pint and extended pop culture discussion. Then we wandered down side streets towards Piazza Navona waiting for something to catch our eye. We settled on, well, the first place we saw, which offered Sicilian fare, and had another nice evening. The man of the couple next to us had been coming to Rome "at least once every decade for the past 30 years" and apparently ate at that restaurant every time? Then met an older American woman on the bus who just up and moved to Rome a few months ago because she had always wanted to, and "when you're her age, you have to start doing the things you always wanted to." Sound logic.

Monday I had to go to school, since I skipped for Dad on Thursday haha, so I left him at 8 30, after which he checked out Basilica San Paolo and headed out to the airport quite successfully. Again, a great visit and I'm excited to see everyone else when I go home in twenty-two days... though I still cannot believe how fast this has gone! And again, this post is entirely too long for me to add anything else to, so Thanksgiving, Chianti, and whatever else I will have experienced by the time I update next will just have to wait. Le sigh.

Click here for the rest of the pics. Also, if you click on any of the pics in any entry you can view them larger:).

Sooooo Behind Part 1 (Halloween and Perugia/Assisi)

Last time I left you I believe I was going to talk about Halloween. In that time, I now have not only Halloween, but a trip to Perugia and Assisi, my Dad's visit, Thanksgiving, and our Chianti trip to discuss. I'm really sorry I've been so bad about this. I wanna blame it on having to wait for other people's pictures before posting (still waiting on Ben's from Perugia), but my own laziness is obviously part of it.

So there really isn't a whole lot to talk about for Halloween... it's not a real Roman holiday, but our directors told us of a club that was having a Halloween party with the directions "Dress Smart or Dress Up!" I had planned on being a gladiator forever and Meghan joined me, but Kathryn, Kathleen, Carly, and Hannah, who joined us for dinner and then at the club, decided to just go fancy. Meghan and I laughed at the prospect that we'd be the only ones in costume... and then we were (aside from people in witch hats and cat ears), but we got to fight in the Metro station and hit sketchy guys with our swords, so it turned out ok in the end.

The Perugia and Assisi trip was kind of spur of the moment... Ben mentioned he wanted to see Perugia because he had almost studied there, I said I too had almost studied there and wanted to see nearby Assisi, so we decided to make a weekend of it. We planned to leave Friday morning, but my phone reset itself in the middle of the night and my alarm didn't go off (I know it sounds like a lame excuse, but my background was changed, my keys were beeping, the menus were in Italian, and all my alarm settings were gone). There was a strike that day so we would have had to take a taxi to the bus station to catch the next bus, so we decided to push it back a day. Ben, Meghan, and I ended up having an amazing day in Rome, just walking around through Testaccio, along the river, to the Boca della Verita, to Campodoglio, the Jewish Ghetto, and finaly settling on the Sacred Island with some wine, cheese and bread to watch the sunset.

Saturday morning we woke up earlier than on time, set out, the metro ride was longer than I expected, the bus station wasn't exactly part of the Tiburtina metro stop like I expected, and we walked up to the ticket booth to watch our bus departing. This meant we spent the next 3 hours in the chilly metro bar, but we chatted and at 10 15 we were well on our way. It was a really pretty drive; the scenery was mountainous, the leaves were starting to change, and there were a lot of sheep:). Grabbed lunch and got a cup of Perugia's famed hot chocolate (a cup of, essentially, pure, melted chocolate... so good, and makes your teeth look so gross) and then we were ready to sightsee. Went to the central art museum and I was able to realize just how much I've learnt about art since being here. Compared with the experience I had in the Prada in Madrid this summer, where I just kind of got bored after the fourth piece of "Christian art" I saw, I've become much more able to understand what is happening in the art itself rather than just what it represents.

Went to the Duomo (which I've learnt simply refers to a cathedral and not the actual dome itself, which makes sense as neither the Duomo in Perugia or Milan even has a dome) which was Gothic and thus completely different from anything we've seen in Rome. It was a completely different town from Rome, in general. In size, obviously, but also in architecture, in surroundings, and in the fact that we didn't hear a word of English in passing the whole time. Picked up some wine and moved to the lookout point to catch another sunset (no really, there should be pictures coming haha). We were interviewed by CBS News indirectly about the British student who was killed by her American roommate there, but the questions were vague and our answers were awkward so I doubt anything came of that.

While walking to find a place to chill out for awhile, another small church caught our eye and we decided to go in. A woman was doing confession, and Ben tried to convince me to follow suit. I declined, but he said he still wanted to talk to the priest. So we went up to him and I asked, in Italian, if he spoke English. He responded, in Italian, "No. I am not obligated to speak English, because I am in Italy. You are in Italy, so you must speak Italian." He wasn't rude about it, just very matter-of-fact, so in our broken Italian we asked about some saint that was depicted in a painting there, who allegedly did a lot of [undefined] miracles. Camillo the priest asked what religion we were. I said Catholic, and Ben owned up to his Hebrew heritage. Camillo touched his head and said, "Welcome," after which I teased Ben that he too was now Catholic.

Went to an Irish pub for a few drinks, got a great dinner at La Laterna, a restaurant recommended by my trusty tourist book, and went to a little bar where there was supposed to be live music (another drawing point of Perugia was its reputation as a music center) at 11. It was an indie band reminiscent of Mates of State, but they didn't come on til about 11 30, so we only got to enjoy them for one song before making our hostel's midnight curfew.

Got up and meandered a bit til we made it to the train station, which seemed strangely small. We asked the conductor where the train to Assisi was, and he laughed and told us we were at the wrong station. For once in our lives we were ahead of schedule so it was no problem to catch a bus to the other station. Assisi was also nice, but there were more tourists than I was expecting. And SO many churches. The main one was obviously San Francesco, after the famous St. Francis of Assisi. (My church in the Netherlands was named after him; I thought it was cool to be at the real one). It's actually two churches on top of one another. The bottom one was in mass, and the top one held the famed early-Renaissance frescoes of Giotto. When my friend Katy told me I had to go to Assisi, she made it clear that despite the hike, I had to go to Rocca Maggiore, the old fortress in ruins at the top of the town. It was definitely worth it for the views (again, pictures coming!). Headed down, grabbed lunch, picked up some chocolate gifts, and made our way back to good ol' Rome. A good weekend despite what seemed to be an impossible start haha.

Alright, this is long and Erin wants to watch Ratatouille so I promise I'll be back soon to talk about the rest of my antics here in Italy. Speaking of antics, less than a month's worth left! So sad!

PHOTOGRAPHY SCHOLARSHIP: PLEASE HELP!

I admit that when a scholarship opportunity shows up in my email inbox I've gotten into the habit of paying it no attention whatsoever. However, this morning one presented itself in the form of a Photography Contest, and therefore caught my eye. As many of you surely know, in spite of a strange and unwarranted curse from the Camera Gods that has left me with camera trouble beyond belief, I absolutely love taking photos, and though I have thousands taking up a good percentage of my computer's memory, I narrowed it down to 14 to submit to the competition. The contest is based off votes so please check out and vote for any and all of my pictures! And tell others too; the grand prize is $1000 and after a semester abroad I could certainly use it!

Thanks a lot, all help is appreciated:).