His Name Shall Be Calzone.

I've developed a very serious fear of birds since my arrival here in Italy. The pigeons here are merciless maniacs. They fly through the air at warp speed, their beaks like scissors in the sky. All I'm saying is, if I die by pigeon collision, I'm gonna be really hacked.

So here's what I've been doing. Right now I'm on a train back to Rome from Tuscany, Siena, & Florence. Florence was nice, really. The Uffizi & Academia were really interesting. I met Michelangelo, Botticelli, Da Vinci. They all seem like nice guys. Rick Steve's guided me through, making witty jokes all along the way. (We were required to download the Rick Steve's guided audio tour for class.) Our new motto for the trip is "Well, Rick Steve's says..". My favorite, however, was the Salvatore Ferragamo museum. That man was pure genius. It should be noted that probably about 85% of everyone in Florence was American. That's probably a bit of an exaggeration, but not by much. It was strange. I had my second steak last night in Florence. Florentine steak is a specialty. I guess I should have a steak in Texas sometime..

Last weekend I went to Barcelona, Spain. We saw a lot of really cool stuff: The Picasso Museum, Sangrada Familia, Gaudi's apartments. I honestly didn't expect Spain to be very interesting. It's probably the hours of "Destino's" episodes I was tortured with in Senora's class in high school. For those of you who don't know, "Destino's" was a Spanish soap opera from the '80's designed for language classes. In other words, nap time.  My favorite thing about Barcelona was the fashion. I guess I'm used to the Romans & their extensive black wardrobes. In Barcelona, everyone wore what they wanted. It was very funky. It was refreshing. You should go sometime.

Gaudi's apartment

Ceiling of the Sangrada Familia

Front of the Sangrada Familia

Towers of the Sangrada Familia

View from the Sangrada Familigia

Duomo of Siena

Adrienne & I in the Piazza del Campo, Siena

"Look for the Duomo, it's your home-o" -Rick Steves (Florence)

Florence sunset from the bridge

The Amalfi Coast

I just returned from a beeeeautiful weekend on the southern coast of Italy. We started in the ancient city of Pompeii. We had planned on hiking up Mount Vesuvius, but bad weather changed our plans. We drove through the city of Naples, without a stop. The prime minister was visiting for the first time to address the garbage problem there. In case you didn't know, the mafia controls the garbage disposal in Naples, & they aren't doing a good job (surprised?). We saw huge piles of trash, practically lining the entire street. So, we moved on to Positano, which is on the Amalfi coast. It was cloudy & kind of rainy when we arrived, but it was still gorgeous. It might be my favorite place in the world (this far).  Thurday, Friday, & Saturday were perfectly sunny. 

Pompeii

Positano

Amalfi from the ferry

Amalfi

I wish I could post more pictures, but it takes a long time for them to upload on this blog.

Yeah, I went to Mass at the Vatican this morning.. n.b.d.

After an interessante weekend in Roma, I have learned quite a bit. 

When in Rome,

-expect to not be able to feel your legs at the end of the day. But it's okay, because you saw the Trevi fountain... seriously? The Trevi fountain. In real life. Woah.

-eat at the largest McDonald's in the world. Be siked to finally have ketchup again, but don't throw a fit when they ask for the 10 cents it costs. (Yes, I know. I was in Rome, & chose to eat at McDonalds. Just accept it.)

-stick to the back of the metro, since it tends to be less crowded. If you're feeling a bit adventurous, stand in the middle of the cars. It's like standing on a water bed: my idea of a good time.

-learn the word "basta" (enough), so that you can use it against the thousands of bothersome street vendors. But when it starts raining and you don't have an umbrella, they will be your new best friend.

-expect to be ripped off. You have 'American' written all over you.

There's so much more that I will probably think of later. We had a lot of fun this weekend, & saw SO MUCH! Friday we walked around with our teacher/guide, Jessica. On Saturday, we walked & shopped a little. On Sunday, we got up early to go to Mass at the Vatican. We standed in line for about 45 minutes, but right as we were about to walk through security, we were taken aback when we heard "High School Musical" blaring over the speakers in front of the Vatican. We have no clue what that was about, rando. We got into the Vatican, walked around a little, & headed to the front to watch the service from behind the barricades. They only let about 500 people in the very front were the service actually takes place, but the security guy let us go in. A couple of the girls in my group were able to take communion at the front. On our way out of Vatican City, we stopped to say hi to the Swiss guard we met on Saturday night. It was quite a weekend! We are headed back to Rome tomorrow to go to the World Food Program. On Wednesday, we are going to Pompeii, & then spending the weekend in Positano, on the coast.

Here are some pics from the weekend:

The view from the Spanish steps

That's me drinking from the fountain in front of the Spanish steps. I perfer water from ancient aquaducts.

The Trevi! My favorite.

Inside the Pantheon. Did you know you can get married there? Hm...

The Pantheon is really big.

Now I'm off to bed! I'm running off of 3 hours of sleep (that explains all the grammatical errors, but Dad, you can still send all the corrections in an e-mail like always)! Buono notte!

There are two kinds of people in this world...

Buona Sera! 

I don't have much time to type, because I have to pack my bag for a weekend in Rome! 

These past two days we have taken little field trips to surrounding towns in our region, the Castelli Romani. We went hiking in Albano on a hill overlooking Lake Albano & Lake Nemi. below is a picture I took from the top, looking back towards Ariccia. You can see the Chigi Palace, where we have class, & the bridge. 

Hopefully I'll be able to fit in some time for a post with some real substance when I return from a lovely weekend in Roma! Ciao!

Ciao?

There are two things that are more real to me today more than ever: language barriers and the effects of jet-lag. Not everything can be answered with 'ciao' or 'si', or even 'molto bene'. Even with a semester of Italian course study under my belt, my language efforts seem hopeless. And as for the jet-lag, I feel as though I could sleep for a week. But seeing as there is lots to see in this beautiful country I'm in, I'd rather not sleep at all. 

Today we arrived at the Hotel in Ariccia at about 10:30, packed our luggage into our quaint room, & headed downtown to eat some lunch. I'm not really sure what ate, some kind of pasta & marinara. I was lucky to have pointed to a normal dish on the menu. The waiters, who were originally overjoyed that the 18 American girls picked their restaraunt, were soon annoyed with our lack of ordering abilities. It was a learning experience, fo sho. We returned from lunch, took a nap, & went back to town for dinner. I had an incredible legit-Italian pizza. It was delish. After dinner, we walked to the bridge overlooking a valley, where there was a fireworks display. 

This has been a long day, & I could probably write much more about it, however, I need to rest, because it all begins again tomorrow! Ciao mia familigia!

  

One More Week in the USA

It's so hard to believe that my Sophomore year at Auburn has come to an end! But as this year comes to a close, I'm blessed to have the beginning of a new adventure ahead of me. My flight to Italy leaves on May 10th, & from there my summer abroad will officially begin. This blog is for all of you back in America, to keep you up on all my ventures. I see this opportunity as a huge blessing, & would love nothing more than to share it with all of you! Keep checking back for updates! Ciao!
war eagle,
Abby