5 Cities in 4 Days: Venice and Tuscany! Part 2

Ok I know all of this is wicked late but I finally have time to catch up on some posts so I'll do the best I can to fill in the gaps!

Ok where were we...I had just gotten back to Roma from Venezia (Venice). I ran back to school, took a (wonderfully hot!) shower and hopped on a bus with 25 other students in my program to Tuscany. It was only a 4 1/2 hour drive, which I just slept through the whole thing. First, we arrived in Siena!

Here were some of my first looks:

Sienna was EXTREMELY hilly!

While in Siena, I had one of the BEST meals of my life. Unfortunately it was just so delicious that I forgot to take a picture of it, but it consisted of the local meat, wild boar, and realllly yummy pasta. 

We were in Siena for a whole day and through out the day we heard lectures from our Professor Dawson on the town and especially about St. Catherine of Siena. St. Catherine is a Doctor of the Church of was a third order Dominican which means that she was not a religious but never married either and dedicated her life to going out into the town of Siena to care for the poor and needy. You might know her as the woman who greatly influence Pope Urban XI to return the papacy to Roma. I loved hearing the lectures because I felt like I wasn't just aimlessly wandering around but really got to see a very good portion of the town.

Inside the Duomo of Siena

Outside St. Catherine's house

Piazza del Campo

Siena was great, but cold. And being cold and tired and not my favorite combo. So I was very happy to get warm aboard the bus that evening and travel to Arezzo, which was about an hour away. We arrived at our hotel in about an hours time and Lauren and I crashed in our double. We were alseep within 10 minutes.

The next day we were feeling much better and ready to greet Arezzo! Out of all the Tuscan towns we visited, Arezzo was my favorite. For one, it is where one of my favorite movies, La Vita e Bella (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64ZoO7oiN0s) was filmed! I absolutely adored going around to the different sites that I recognized in the movie. Honestly, I was in heaven.

love love love!

The girls in front of the main Piazza in Arezzo!

Saw some frescos of Piero della Francesa in the Church of St. Francis...

found a park...

saw inside the Duomo of Arezzo....

And finished the day with a little wine tasting at Castel del Trebbio!

Unfortunately, my camera some how last the pictures I took of the wine tasting... still trying to recover them!

But here are some pictures that I took while riding on the bus between towns:

For our third stop in Tuscany, we did a quick scoop through Pienza for lunch:

And lastly we went to Orvieto, a beautiful little town on the top of a huge hill!

more frescos...

beautiful piazza...

and the duomo!

The coolest thing about Orvieto, was that inside there is the Chapel of the Corporal, which houses a consecrated host that actually bleed onto a corporal (or the small white clothe that the host and chalice rest on during mass). You can learn more about this Eucharist miracle here---> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporal_of_Bolsena

To say the least, Tuscany was by far one of my favorite weekends that I've had while in Europe. Megan and I decided that we are going to just drop school and start a B&B.  Hope that's okay mom! :)

5 Cities in 4 Days: Venice and Tuscany! Part 1

Ok! We have a lot to catch up on! And because I'm covering several trips I'm going to break it up into two parts. First up: Venice.

Two weekends ago was THE craziest, most exilerating weekend of my life. On Saturday morning, we woke up at 6 am and headed to Termini to catch our 8:30 train to Venice. It was uber cold and there was snow on the ground but the trains were still running so we all decided to be troopers and treck north to Venice. The trip was organized by our Italian school so it was really nice to have a guide with us. We arrived around 12:30 and it was FRIGID! Not just cold, but it was "piercing your skin" cold. Since Venice is settled right next to the ocean and has many canals, the winds were fast as well. But, hey, we hadn't traveled 3 hours for nothing, so we out mind over matter and headed into town.

Here are some shoots from my first views of Venice:

The classic Italian gondola!

So, the reason we went to Venice on this specific weekend was to join in Carnivale. Carnivale is an annual festival held in Venice which starts 58 days before Easter and ends on Marti Gras, the day before Ash Wednesday. The celebration includes tons of costumes, parades, yummy food and contests.

  Now, I don't get scared easily (or so I'd like to think) but, as many of you know (yes I mean you Trisha, Kerry, Sarah, Teresea and Ashley), one of the things that I am TERRIFIED of are masks. Yes, masks. I just don't like the whole concealment of identity- it freaks me out. Anyway, if you know anything about Carnivale you know that there are TONS of people walking around in masks. Somehow, I forgot this tiny detail but soon realized what I had gotten myself in to as soon as I walked into Venice.

masks, masks and more masks!

Anyway, after much coxing from my good friend Lauren [which went something like: "Okay Elise, on the count of three you're going to put ON the mask. Breathe. Nope! Pick the mask back up young lady! It's going to be ok honey... On the count of three.. one.. two.." I actually] I actually put on the mask. It was a small one, but still, it was a big step.

mask: ON!

Carnivale was by far the craziest experience of my life. There were people walking around with costumes of every kind and the wine was flowing [literally. there was a wine fountain.] We had so much fun walking aorund taking everything in. We stopped for a warm lunch, purchased some brule [hot, spiced wine] went into Basilica di San Marco and got to take in beautiful Venice! Even in the cold it was beautiful!

outside of Basilica si San Marco

so many people!

the port of Venice

I am so happy I got to see Venice. It was really a dream come true. Through out my trip, I have grown to love traveling more and more. 

After a yummy apperitvio and a great dinner, our group of 50 students hopped aboard a a sleep train [thank God!] and took the 7 hour train ride back to Rome. It was my first time sleeping on a train and I loved it. Although I didn't actually get a lot of sleep, I loved the new experience.

Then around 6:30 am our train pulled into Termni... 

check out my next post! the adventure continues!

Snow in Rome and a Trip to the Top of the World!

So I thought that I would be escaping the whole bitter-cold-weather-thing this winter by moving to Rome, where I was told it never reached below 7 degrees Celcius (about 45 degrees Fahrenheit). Well, I guess Mother Nature had other plans because last weekend, it snowed here in Rome for the first time in 27 years!

Given, it was only 4 inches of snow, but you would have thought the world was ending the way the Romans reacted to it. Given, since it NEVER snows here, the city owns approxiamately one snow plow and no salt. 

Our program had originally scheduled a 3 day trip to Tuscany for the weekend but because the bus couldn't leave the parking lot [still not sure how true this statment is...] we never left Rome. But, Nora and I made the best out of it! We couldn't leave our neighborhood because the buses weren't running but we thoroughly enjoyed our time exploring, cooking our own fresh-made pasta for the first time, getting a lot of homework done, watching movies and eating LOTS and LOTS of nutella [ok, I might have eaten a little more than Nora, like half of the jar more...]

My New Friend!

Notice the doubled-up wool socks. It was FREEZING!

Finally on Monday, public transportation was up and running and we were able to do some stretching. So we decided to meet up with our friend Lauren and climb to the top of St. Peter's dome! I still need to upload pictures from the trip but here is one Lauren look...

Rome covered in snow! It was a little windy...

Needless to say, the view was BREATH-TAKING! I feel so blessed to be here while it snowed. Although it might have been a little inconvenient witht he Tuscany trip, I am so happy I was able to see Rome in a way that most never get to!

This weekend we are going to try to make up our trip to Tuscany. But here's the catcher- it's suppose to snow AGAIN! ahhh! We'll see if we make it out of the parking lot this time...

The other day after Adoration at the North American College my good friend Deacon Mario took Lauren, Reagan and me up to the roof! Here's what we saw:

Just the Vatican lit up at night!

I've heard that the weather at home is acting just as strange- snowing one day and 60 the next. I wouldn't expect anything less of D.C./Maryland weather! Hope everyone is hanging in there!

The Weekend/ First Weekend Traveling- Pisa!

So I want to tell you about my first 3 weekends here.

Two Saturdays ago my whole program was invited to go on a tour of St. Peter's Basilica given by our program director, Dr. Dawson. Needly to say, it was quite breath-taking.

St. Peter's Bascilia!

It is one thing to walk around churches and bascilias and admire their beauty, but it's a completely different experience to actually learn the thought, creativity and passion behind it all. Here's a peek into our tour:

Here's the first thing you see when you walk into St. Peter's:

Holy Spirit! Bam!

St. Peter's Basilica is the largest bascilica in the world and the burial place of St. Peter. And of course it holds tons of holy relics, the Tomb of Blessed John Paul II, and the Peita!

Just turned around one minute and saw this in front of me:

This was my other favorite statue we saw, a depiction of St. Veronica, "the Image Bearer."

the ceiling:

breath-taking!

In more recent news, last weekend Nora and I went to Pisa! 

We decided to go ahead and try to check one of our "must sees" off the list so we decided to do a day trip last Saturday to Pisa.

As you can see, I finally got a classic photo with the Tower!

We got there around 11 a.m. and didn't leave until 8:50. It was only a 2 hr and 40 min. train ride. 

Pisa is a beautiful little town, but really besides seeing the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Cathedral that is next to it and the Baptistry, all of which we visted and enjoyed immensly, there's nothing else to really do it Pisa. So I'm happy that we made it a day trip.

Starting the Climb!

We made it to the top!

Nora is a GREAT travel companion and we had so much fun!

That Sunday, I went with a class to Nettuno to celebrate the 68th anniversary of the Allies landing in Nettuno on January 22. Four months later in June, the Allies liberated Rome. The class got a whole tour of the American cemetary there. It was so beautiful and memorable. Afterwards, a bunch of us went and visited the tomb of Saint Maria Goretti! Definately one of the highlights of my trip! She's so tiny! We only got 2 minutes with her because the Church was closing but that was plenty of time for a quick prayer and to touch some rosaries to her tomb.

This weekend has been a weekend of catching up on some much needed sleep and homework. Not much to report haha.

Blessings and Prayers!

       

Finally...The First Post In Roma!

Ok! Sorry this is only like 3 weeks late, but here it is! Get ready for information over-load.
Ciao from Roma! I have been here now for a little over 3 weeks...and it has been the craziest 3 weeks of my life!
To start from the very beginning:
My flight was at 9pm at night on Wednesday, January 4th. My dad flew over with me. My dad and I agreed that the first leg of the flight to Heathrow was not to bad- my dad surprised me and we flew first class- oh how he spoils his little girl :) Then we got to Heathrow at 9 in the morning and our next flight to Fiumicino in Roma was at 10:30. I have to say: it was the roughest flight I've been on! Between the nerves and horrible turbulance, I was not feeling so great when we finally flew over Italy. But as soon as I looked out of my tiny window and saw the gorgeous Italian landscape from hundreds of miles in the air, my heart was captured! I guess you could say that was my "Omgsh I'm really living in another country for the next 4 months" moment.
  So we arrived at the airport, went through "Customs" [I put this in parentheses because from other people's experiences, I was expecting Customs to be a big deal. Nope. I literally just handed some guy my passport, he stamped something on it, and then I walked by. Presto.]
  We hoped in a cab and got to my hotel where I was staying with the 30 other people in my program for the weekend until we moved into our host family's homes. The next 4 days of orientation were filled with talks about how to adjust to Roman life, scavenger hunters, figuring out the public transportation system, tasting Roman food for the first time and getting to know everyone in my program. My days were pretty jam-packed so during the day, my dad went on his own adventures during the day and we met up every night for dinner and some exploring. I loved having him there! It was so surreal to be in Roma together and I'm so happy that I got to share my first few days there with him.

My favorite picture of my dad ever. [He's smiling!]

Some of the major events during my first few weeks here are as follows:

Seeing the Vatican for the first time.

Celebrating the Epiphany with the Pope.

                                                    Lauren and I waiting to get into St. Peter's.

                                                                          Papa!
Visiting the Vatican at night [it's absolutely magical]

Exploring!

                             Beautiful view of the City right near the NAC [North American College]

                                                             typical Roman street. Bella!
And of course trying awesome food!

                                          

                                             A fabulous afternoon with some fabulous friends!
                                            
I am so blessed to have a wonderful group of friends here that I have been able to travel with! One of my favorite places in the city so far is Villa Borghese. It's a pretty good sized park in the northern part of the city. I love it. Every time I go there I feel like I'm in a Jane Austen novel, it's so classic.

Nora and I have gone here several times so far sketching and painting.

          beautiful right!?

As you know, I am living with a host family. Best decision of my life. You don't really get to know or understand Italian culture until you actually live with Italians. I am staying with my host mom, Silvia, who is a elementary school teacher. She actually just got back from a school trip. No, not a field trip but a whole trip. This woman took 30 5th graders to Latina, a small town near Roma. Apparently this is a noraml thing that happens every year, where each class visits a different town and focuses on a specific topic. Just the teacher and the students. No parents. Silvia and Marta were very confused when I gave them a very concerned/ perplexed look. Then they were confused when I explained that this was not a normal happening in the States.
  I also live with my host sister, Marta. Marta is getting her doctorate in art conservation. She is very sweet and hard working and reminds me of my own sister :) I love our apartment. It is very tiny but sooo well decorated and cozy. It is truly beautiful. Marta and Silvia are terrific. Silvia does not know any English and Marta knows a pretty good amount. They are both very patient with my developing Italian.              
It has definately been a great challenge and adjustment living with Italians. They are always moving very quickly and effeciently [for the first couple of days I always thought somethign was wrogn or that I needed to help them with something. And then I learned to relax haha]. They talk very loudly and always seem to be very passionate about what they are saying. Their words have great meaning to them.

                                                                The Trevi Fountain!

Although I have a 45 minute commute everyday to and from school, it is worth it. I love my nieghborhood. It is like it's own little town unto itself! I love having my own little piece of Roma. It's been great spending tiem with friends but I also love my alone time for prayer, reflection and exploring.

Classes are fantastic. I have Italian every day, 3 hours a day. It is difficult but I'm learning a lot very quickly. Currently I am taking Christology which I adore. I am also taking Liturgical Art and Architecture. Both are theology classes. They are a lot of work but I love it because for every class, we meet at some point in Roma and our professor, Dr. Dawson who teaches both classes, speaks to us about the history, art and thought behind the most the most amazing Churches and historical sites of the city. [I do admit- I miss philosophy though!]

Nora and me at the top of the Spanish steps which is only 3 minutes away from our Italian school.

During one of our classes we visited the Pontifical Gregorian University. Being the Theology/ Philosophy nerd that I am, I completely freaked out. I thought I had died and gone to heaven.

Well, I hope that wasn't too much to swallow in one take! I will leave you with one of my favorite parts of Roma: the gelatto!

Love and miss you all! ciao until next time!