Ciao,
Thanksgiving was two days ago and although I was not able to spend it with my family, in the States, I still had an amazing Thanksgiving. The whole week leading up to Thursday, the house put up a Thankful Board with envelopes that had everybody's name on them. You had to opportunity to write letters to people telling them why you were thankful for them. It really got the house into the mood of Thanksgiving. I was really excited for this because even though I would not be spending Thanksgiving with my actual family at home, I was given the privilege of spending Thanksgiving with the family I have created while be over here in Firenze. It is just amazing to think that we all celebrate the common holiday every year and this year we get to all come together and share our traditions together, in a foreign country.
On Thanksgiving we had class... But after the houses last class of the day, some people then went to the local park and played flag football. A couple of Italians joined in on the game, which I thought was cool. After that we gathered together and each person in the house told one thing that they were thankful for and then we prayed. After the prayer we all went to eat Sara's amazing traditional Thanksgiving meal. She did a fabulous job cooking it! The turkey was so moist. The green beans were perfect. There was cranberry sauce, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, dressing, and corn bread! It was all so good! Then for dessert we had apple pie, pecan pie, pumpkin pie and blueberry pie. It was all good and I was so stuffed after wards.
After dinner the house got together and held a coffee house, which is kind of like a talent show. I came to find out that we have so many talented people in this group. There we so many people who could sing, play the guitar, piano, violin and cello, and those people who could write beautiful poetry. This was definitely a lovely Thanksgiving to remember,
Firenze
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Sono andata a Londra
Ciao!
Last weekend was the opening weekend for Harry Potter. It has been my life dream to see a Harry Potter movie in London, its native land. What perfect time to go than for the final movie. Well part 1 for the final movie. So weeks before I spent planning out to meet my friend Emily and two of her friends in London. They were coming up from the Lusanne program. The weekend of the 18th came and knowing that Emily already had my movie ticket I began my solo journey to London.
After taking my Humanities reading test, I rushed to the train station to catch a train to milan, where I would be flying out of. It was a pleasant train ride. Once I got to Milan, however, I couldn't quite figure out how to get to the airport which was an hour away. I knew there was a bus that shuttled people there but the Milan train station was huge! I had to ask around a couple of times to finally figure out where to go. After I bought my ticket, I successfully boarded the bus that would take me to Milan Malpensa airport. I was going to London!
I arrived to the airport in plenty of time. I swooshed through security and realized that I had two hours to kill. Those two hours were spent browsing the duty free shop that took up most of the floor where I was waiting. I saw many interesting things like kinder eggs that had seven surprise toys inside instead of one. It was 15 euro. I also saw all the Harry Potter books, in Italian. I really wanted to buy them but I had no way of getting them home.
Finally my gate was listed, I boarded my plane, and we set off for London! Once I got there it was around 10:30 pm. I had to take another shuttle to the center of London inorder to get to my hostel. This shuttle also took an hour. When I arrived to central London it was around 11:45. The bus dropped me off at the Marble arch stop which I knew was in the vicinity of my hostel. I just didn't know exactly where. I figured I would just take a night bus over towards the areas where my hostel was. I went up to the machine to buy my ticket and that is when I realized I had no way of buying anything because I didn't have any pound currency. I was just thinking, "great, what ATM will be open at midnight?"
I traveled around the corner to a hotel and went inside to ask where an ATM was. She walked me around the corner and showed me where the closest ATM was, across the street. After getting money, I walked by to the bus station and for the life of me couldn't figure out which bus to take. I finally decided to suck it up and get a taxi because I wanted to make sure I got to my hostel sometime during that night. It was about 12:30 when I waved down a taxi and 12:50 when I pulled up to the Hostel.
I walk in the hostel just wanting to go to sleep and the women at the front desk tells me that I am not on my friends reservation list. What?? She tells me which room Emily is in so I could go talk to her. I find her and through some miss communication I was not put on her reservation list. I went downstairs to see if they still had any free beds. The hostel was completely booked. But they didn't have an emergency bed that I could stay in just for that night. So I immediately booked that bed and went straight to the computer room to try and book another hostel for the next two nights.
After an hour, I still had no luck. It was now 2 in the morning and for the next two nights, I was homeless. Every hostel was booked so I gave up on hostels in pursuit of a cheap hotel. The cheapest hotel I found was a Holiday Inn. I booked it. I wasn't quite sure where it was but I was hoping it was close.
I finally went to bed at 3:30 am and the next morning, or the same morning, I woke up at 7 to meet Emily and her two friends. I was a bit thrown off by everything and was just hoping that the weekend would get better. I was thinking it would since I was going to see Harry Potter. As it turns out, the weekend got loads better. When I went downstairs to meet Emily, Casey and Kristina, we were all in good spirits. It was really nice seeing a familiar face outside of the Florence program.
We set off to Starbucks, which was wonderful, bought our oyster cards for the tube and headed for the Marble Arch station, a place that I knew well. ; ) We had three hours before our movie started so we spent the time roaming around that area and shopping. I ended up finding a really cool throw of the British Flag. For luch we had subway which was so homey feeling. Finally we headed to the theater. We were all giddy and could not wait for the show.
The show was amazing. All four of us were crying through the whole movie. We were so pleased with it, and we couldn't believe that there was going to be only one more premier of Harry Potter. It is weird seeing this franchise end because my generation grew up with these characters.
After the movie, Emily, Casey and Kristina all took me to find my hotel. It was coincidentally only a fifteen minute walk from their hostel. God thing?? After finding my hotel, we decided to exlore the city. We took the tube to Leicester Station. There we decided to go see a theater show. We went and saw Chicago. It was really awesome to see. I just love theater shows, and I had never seen Chicago before.
The next day Emily and the rest of the group met me at my hotel and we took the tube to Westminister, where Parliament and Westminister Abbey is. We roamed around that area for a bit. We saw Big Ben and Westminister Abbey which the front courtyard was decoration with crosses and poppies for veterans month. We then walked across the bridge to find the Globe theater because Kristina is a litirature major and wanted to see it. I was not opposed in the least bit and so we headed off to the Globe. We ended up coming to a really neat part of town. The Globe was really cool to see and after we saw the Globe we had lunch at a pub. You have to have at least one pub experience while you are in London. It was really cool just being in the pub atmosphere eating fish and chips.
After that we kept walking and came acrosse that bridge which was in the sixth Harry Potter film. We all started geeking out when we recognized the bridge. We may like Harry Potter a little too much haha : ). We then took the tube to Picadilly and looked around there and browsed through a huge souvenier shop. Walking around Picadilly, we branched off and found ourselves in Leicester again. We decided to go to a cupcake shop we saw the night before when we went to see Chicago. On the way to the cupcake shop we stop at a movie store that had almost every memorabilia from every movie you could think of. I got a Gryffindor scarf while I was there.
While we were eating cupcakes, we were all wondering what we were going to do that night. We sat and looked at each other knowing we were all thinking of the same thing. Go see Harry Potter, again. So we rushed over to the nearest theater we could find and they had a couple seats still available for that last showing of the night. We bought the tickets and we also got a student discound which knocked off 8 pounds. That was nice. We then had dinner across the street at Byron's: Proper Burgers. Then at 9:30 we walked back over to see the show. It was so awesome seeing it again. This weekend had turned out to be almost perfect.
It was 11:40 when we left the theater and we decided to walk back because the tube closed in twenty minutes. The walk took us about 30 minutes so I didn't get back to my hotel until quarter past midnight. It was a very pleasant walk though. We walked through a quaint part of town. When Emily, Casey and Kristina dropped me off at my hotel, I had to say my goodbyes there because I had to leave at 4 in the morning to catch my bus back to the airport. The whole night I was so nervous that I was going to miss my bus back to the airport that I literally got not even one hour of sleep. I was really nervous about having to walk around London at 4 in the morning. But God got me to the bus stop safely. I almost had no trouble finding it. I was able to make my flight and my train back to Firenze. All in all it was a great weekend and I learned a lot about traveling.
Last weekend was the opening weekend for Harry Potter. It has been my life dream to see a Harry Potter movie in London, its native land. What perfect time to go than for the final movie. Well part 1 for the final movie. So weeks before I spent planning out to meet my friend Emily and two of her friends in London. They were coming up from the Lusanne program. The weekend of the 18th came and knowing that Emily already had my movie ticket I began my solo journey to London.
After taking my Humanities reading test, I rushed to the train station to catch a train to milan, where I would be flying out of. It was a pleasant train ride. Once I got to Milan, however, I couldn't quite figure out how to get to the airport which was an hour away. I knew there was a bus that shuttled people there but the Milan train station was huge! I had to ask around a couple of times to finally figure out where to go. After I bought my ticket, I successfully boarded the bus that would take me to Milan Malpensa airport. I was going to London!
I arrived to the airport in plenty of time. I swooshed through security and realized that I had two hours to kill. Those two hours were spent browsing the duty free shop that took up most of the floor where I was waiting. I saw many interesting things like kinder eggs that had seven surprise toys inside instead of one. It was 15 euro. I also saw all the Harry Potter books, in Italian. I really wanted to buy them but I had no way of getting them home.
Finally my gate was listed, I boarded my plane, and we set off for London! Once I got there it was around 10:30 pm. I had to take another shuttle to the center of London inorder to get to my hostel. This shuttle also took an hour. When I arrived to central London it was around 11:45. The bus dropped me off at the Marble arch stop which I knew was in the vicinity of my hostel. I just didn't know exactly where. I figured I would just take a night bus over towards the areas where my hostel was. I went up to the machine to buy my ticket and that is when I realized I had no way of buying anything because I didn't have any pound currency. I was just thinking, "great, what ATM will be open at midnight?"
I traveled around the corner to a hotel and went inside to ask where an ATM was. She walked me around the corner and showed me where the closest ATM was, across the street. After getting money, I walked by to the bus station and for the life of me couldn't figure out which bus to take. I finally decided to suck it up and get a taxi because I wanted to make sure I got to my hostel sometime during that night. It was about 12:30 when I waved down a taxi and 12:50 when I pulled up to the Hostel.
I walk in the hostel just wanting to go to sleep and the women at the front desk tells me that I am not on my friends reservation list. What?? She tells me which room Emily is in so I could go talk to her. I find her and through some miss communication I was not put on her reservation list. I went downstairs to see if they still had any free beds. The hostel was completely booked. But they didn't have an emergency bed that I could stay in just for that night. So I immediately booked that bed and went straight to the computer room to try and book another hostel for the next two nights.
After an hour, I still had no luck. It was now 2 in the morning and for the next two nights, I was homeless. Every hostel was booked so I gave up on hostels in pursuit of a cheap hotel. The cheapest hotel I found was a Holiday Inn. I booked it. I wasn't quite sure where it was but I was hoping it was close.
I finally went to bed at 3:30 am and the next morning, or the same morning, I woke up at 7 to meet Emily and her two friends. I was a bit thrown off by everything and was just hoping that the weekend would get better. I was thinking it would since I was going to see Harry Potter. As it turns out, the weekend got loads better. When I went downstairs to meet Emily, Casey and Kristina, we were all in good spirits. It was really nice seeing a familiar face outside of the Florence program.
We set off to Starbucks, which was wonderful, bought our oyster cards for the tube and headed for the Marble Arch station, a place that I knew well. ; ) We had three hours before our movie started so we spent the time roaming around that area and shopping. I ended up finding a really cool throw of the British Flag. For luch we had subway which was so homey feeling. Finally we headed to the theater. We were all giddy and could not wait for the show.
The show was amazing. All four of us were crying through the whole movie. We were so pleased with it, and we couldn't believe that there was going to be only one more premier of Harry Potter. It is weird seeing this franchise end because my generation grew up with these characters.
After the movie, Emily, Casey and Kristina all took me to find my hotel. It was coincidentally only a fifteen minute walk from their hostel. God thing?? After finding my hotel, we decided to exlore the city. We took the tube to Leicester Station. There we decided to go see a theater show. We went and saw Chicago. It was really awesome to see. I just love theater shows, and I had never seen Chicago before.
The next day Emily and the rest of the group met me at my hotel and we took the tube to Westminister, where Parliament and Westminister Abbey is. We roamed around that area for a bit. We saw Big Ben and Westminister Abbey which the front courtyard was decoration with crosses and poppies for veterans month. We then walked across the bridge to find the Globe theater because Kristina is a litirature major and wanted to see it. I was not opposed in the least bit and so we headed off to the Globe. We ended up coming to a really neat part of town. The Globe was really cool to see and after we saw the Globe we had lunch at a pub. You have to have at least one pub experience while you are in London. It was really cool just being in the pub atmosphere eating fish and chips.
After that we kept walking and came acrosse that bridge which was in the sixth Harry Potter film. We all started geeking out when we recognized the bridge. We may like Harry Potter a little too much haha : ). We then took the tube to Picadilly and looked around there and browsed through a huge souvenier shop. Walking around Picadilly, we branched off and found ourselves in Leicester again. We decided to go to a cupcake shop we saw the night before when we went to see Chicago. On the way to the cupcake shop we stop at a movie store that had almost every memorabilia from every movie you could think of. I got a Gryffindor scarf while I was there.
While we were eating cupcakes, we were all wondering what we were going to do that night. We sat and looked at each other knowing we were all thinking of the same thing. Go see Harry Potter, again. So we rushed over to the nearest theater we could find and they had a couple seats still available for that last showing of the night. We bought the tickets and we also got a student discound which knocked off 8 pounds. That was nice. We then had dinner across the street at Byron's: Proper Burgers. Then at 9:30 we walked back over to see the show. It was so awesome seeing it again. This weekend had turned out to be almost perfect.
It was 11:40 when we left the theater and we decided to walk back because the tube closed in twenty minutes. The walk took us about 30 minutes so I didn't get back to my hotel until quarter past midnight. It was a very pleasant walk though. We walked through a quaint part of town. When Emily, Casey and Kristina dropped me off at my hotel, I had to say my goodbyes there because I had to leave at 4 in the morning to catch my bus back to the airport. The whole night I was so nervous that I was going to miss my bus back to the airport that I literally got not even one hour of sleep. I was really nervous about having to walk around London at 4 in the morning. But God got me to the bus stop safely. I almost had no trouble finding it. I was able to make my flight and my train back to Firenze. All in all it was a great weekend and I learned a lot about traveling.
Friday, November 12, 2010
Una Bella Giornata
Ciao,
This morning I decided to get up early to seize the day. I woke up about 8:30 (haha I guess it wasn't that early) and join my friends Breanne and Grace for breakfast at Cafe Lib. I got my favorite pastry of all time which is has the bread similar to a Palmier but filled with a ricotta custard of some sort. It is so good! As we the three of us were eating breakfast, more and more people kept joining our table. It was such a delight because we all just sat around and visited. We talked about things we find beautiful in life. Mine being old couples. With that comment the conversation transformed into cute, fun parents stories on how they met. It was just a pleasant way to start the morning. I have really grown to love Firenze and I love the fact that we have the opportunity to be able to have breakfast at a cafe together and talk about almost anything on our minds. It was fun.
So an hour and a half later Breanne, Grace and I finally left Cafe Lib. It was a a beautiful rainy day. We began our mission in finding Breanne's church she was suppose to photograph for Religion class. It was right by the Arno River. It was a pleasant walk down to the river. We took the route down by the train station to pass Santa Maria Novella, which is where Massacio's Trinity was. I had never seen the front of Santa Maria Novella and when we got there, I found it to be beautiful. There was a pretty grassy field infront. The Facade comsisted of multicolor marbles ranging from white, green and red. The rainy day just seemed to make all those colors even more vibrant.
After stopping and marveling at the church, we continued our way to Bre's church. We finally arrived and we came to find that it was closed. So instead we crossed over to the bridge and had a small photo shoot. For some reasons the colors of the bridge and all the buildings with the grassy hills in the distant had a beautiful, vibrant contrast. It was a perfect scene for pictures. At one point Bre put her camera on self-timer. For some reason the self-timer was not really working. As usual. Luckily a man was passing by and he offered to take our photo. In exchange for our photo we took a picture of him with his camera. Because of this we began talking with him and we found out that he was from South America. He was in the military, stationed in Rome and her was on leave for the day and decided to visit Firenze. It was really cool being able to speak with someone from the same side of the Hemisphere that we are from. He was really nice. I think its those keys moments in life when you make those small, short friendships that are most fun. It is just so interesting to hear about someone's life for a brief moment in time.
After our conversation with the fellow "American", South American, we continued our way to another church. Basilica di Spirito. This church was the church in which Michelangelo studied human anatomy. It was there that one of the priest allowed him to do so. As a thank you gift, Michelangelo carved a wooden Crucifixion for the chruch. We found the church which was located in a cute and quaint piazza. We then entered the church, which was beautiful and found our way to the Cricifix. The Crucifix was breathtaking. Michelangelo carved the Crucifix when he was 18 years old. You could tell it was a work of Michelangelo's because of the way of the human anatomy. Very Percise with the movements and measurments. The bosy was idealized yet you could see the strain and tension of the twisting in the body produce from the pain in his feet and hands. While there was the tension in his body, his face was so peaceful and serene. It was so peaceful in death. He did a really beautiful job.
Leaving the Basillica di Spirito we headed back to Santa Maria Novella. We took our time on our way there so we could just walk down random streets of Firenze and see the city. We arrived to Santa Maria Novella and to get to the entrance of the church, you have to walk through the cloisters. These cloister we so peaceful and serene. I just love how churches have a designated area where one can walk and meditate with God. I feel like in America we often at times to forget to meditate with God and get caught up in our busy lives, but these cloisters almost willingly force you to meditate upon God. it was very beautiful with a luch green grassy courtyard and trees with moss.
Once inside the church, your eyes are immediately drawn to Masaccio's Trinity. It was so amazing to see. I loved seeing it in person 1) because I have studied about this work of art for the past two years and 2) you can see so many more details in person than in a book. I learned to appreciate this work of art more by seeing it in person. One thing I noticed was the hands of God, the Father. They were underneath the cross-bar on the cross. It was almost as if he was lifting up his Son, but also offering up his son for the salvation of humanity. Another thing I noticed was the expression of God's face. You could see the pain, the sorrow, and sadness in his face at the fact that he has to give up His one and only Son. But you also see the knowledgein his exspression that he has to give up his one and only son for the salvation of humanity. It was such a beautiful painting showing the emotions of the Father giving his only son to die a horrible death.
This was such a perfect day. It was a day filled of good conversation, pleasant walks and great sightseeing.
This morning I decided to get up early to seize the day. I woke up about 8:30 (haha I guess it wasn't that early) and join my friends Breanne and Grace for breakfast at Cafe Lib. I got my favorite pastry of all time which is has the bread similar to a Palmier but filled with a ricotta custard of some sort. It is so good! As we the three of us were eating breakfast, more and more people kept joining our table. It was such a delight because we all just sat around and visited. We talked about things we find beautiful in life. Mine being old couples. With that comment the conversation transformed into cute, fun parents stories on how they met. It was just a pleasant way to start the morning. I have really grown to love Firenze and I love the fact that we have the opportunity to be able to have breakfast at a cafe together and talk about almost anything on our minds. It was fun.
So an hour and a half later Breanne, Grace and I finally left Cafe Lib. It was a a beautiful rainy day. We began our mission in finding Breanne's church she was suppose to photograph for Religion class. It was right by the Arno River. It was a pleasant walk down to the river. We took the route down by the train station to pass Santa Maria Novella, which is where Massacio's Trinity was. I had never seen the front of Santa Maria Novella and when we got there, I found it to be beautiful. There was a pretty grassy field infront. The Facade comsisted of multicolor marbles ranging from white, green and red. The rainy day just seemed to make all those colors even more vibrant.
After stopping and marveling at the church, we continued our way to Bre's church. We finally arrived and we came to find that it was closed. So instead we crossed over to the bridge and had a small photo shoot. For some reasons the colors of the bridge and all the buildings with the grassy hills in the distant had a beautiful, vibrant contrast. It was a perfect scene for pictures. At one point Bre put her camera on self-timer. For some reason the self-timer was not really working. As usual. Luckily a man was passing by and he offered to take our photo. In exchange for our photo we took a picture of him with his camera. Because of this we began talking with him and we found out that he was from South America. He was in the military, stationed in Rome and her was on leave for the day and decided to visit Firenze. It was really cool being able to speak with someone from the same side of the Hemisphere that we are from. He was really nice. I think its those keys moments in life when you make those small, short friendships that are most fun. It is just so interesting to hear about someone's life for a brief moment in time.
After our conversation with the fellow "American", South American, we continued our way to another church. Basilica di Spirito. This church was the church in which Michelangelo studied human anatomy. It was there that one of the priest allowed him to do so. As a thank you gift, Michelangelo carved a wooden Crucifixion for the chruch. We found the church which was located in a cute and quaint piazza. We then entered the church, which was beautiful and found our way to the Cricifix. The Crucifix was breathtaking. Michelangelo carved the Crucifix when he was 18 years old. You could tell it was a work of Michelangelo's because of the way of the human anatomy. Very Percise with the movements and measurments. The bosy was idealized yet you could see the strain and tension of the twisting in the body produce from the pain in his feet and hands. While there was the tension in his body, his face was so peaceful and serene. It was so peaceful in death. He did a really beautiful job.
Leaving the Basillica di Spirito we headed back to Santa Maria Novella. We took our time on our way there so we could just walk down random streets of Firenze and see the city. We arrived to Santa Maria Novella and to get to the entrance of the church, you have to walk through the cloisters. These cloister we so peaceful and serene. I just love how churches have a designated area where one can walk and meditate with God. I feel like in America we often at times to forget to meditate with God and get caught up in our busy lives, but these cloisters almost willingly force you to meditate upon God. it was very beautiful with a luch green grassy courtyard and trees with moss.
Once inside the church, your eyes are immediately drawn to Masaccio's Trinity. It was so amazing to see. I loved seeing it in person 1) because I have studied about this work of art for the past two years and 2) you can see so many more details in person than in a book. I learned to appreciate this work of art more by seeing it in person. One thing I noticed was the hands of God, the Father. They were underneath the cross-bar on the cross. It was almost as if he was lifting up his Son, but also offering up his son for the salvation of humanity. Another thing I noticed was the expression of God's face. You could see the pain, the sorrow, and sadness in his face at the fact that he has to give up His one and only Son. But you also see the knowledgein his exspression that he has to give up his one and only son for the salvation of humanity. It was such a beautiful painting showing the emotions of the Father giving his only son to die a horrible death.
This was such a perfect day. It was a day filled of good conversation, pleasant walks and great sightseeing.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Wednesday night Bible study
Ciao!
Last night (Wednesday) some friends of mine and I were invited to attend a Bible study at this couples apartment in the outskirts of Florence. They are an older American couple and have been doing mission work for the past twenty or so years, and they felt called to Florence and have been living here for the past two months. I was not quite sure what to expect, but I hadn't been out of the house for two days straight and I was eager to meet new people.
So I met up with my housemates at five and we walked to the train station to take the tram to the outer parts of Florence. We all got to check another mode of transportation off our traveling list. Our stop is the final stop for the tram that we took and once we finally reached it, we were the only ones left on the tram. We stepped out into the coldness of the night and waited to be picked up by the husband. Now I had been warned about the husband's infamous laugh. He was said to have a jolly, big bellied laugh that would last for munites after you were done laughing at whatever was said. But all those warning didn't do him justice. The first minute being in the car, he greeted us with this boistrous laugh that I instantly fell in love with. I knew right then that we were in good hands. He was such a sweet genuine old man.
After about a fifteen minute drive through the Florentine country side we arrive to their apartment complex. We follow him to his apartment and walk in. There we were greeted by his wife and little dog, who was very curious to see us. We sat around their living room and visited awhile becuase we were waitng on three more people to join us for the Bible study. After talking for a bit the first quest arrived. Her name is Laura and she is a local Florentine who is studying not too far from our villa. It was really cool meeting her becuase she didn't know a lot of english so I was able to practice my Italian with her. I found out where she was studying, that she was studying Speech Therapy and that she is twenty years old (like me). She was very sweet, and it was awesome meeting someone outside of the villa that I could potentially become friends with. Once she arrived the couple, the Mcgees, offered us snacks, and all of us being poor college kids were more than appreciative for the snacks. We love snacks. : ) They had tortilla chips, cookies, peach tea, and these small puffs that tasted life peanutbutter! The one thing that I crave while I am here.
Soon after delving into the snacks, the last two guest arrive. One's name is Heather and she is from Enlgand and the other's name is Sylvia, who is a local Florentine as well. Once introductions were made, we began our Bible study. We started out in a time of prayer and it was just so amazing and an enlightening to share this experience with complete strangers all over the world, sharing the same passion to be with God. It was a time where we could all share our woes and struggles and allow the Holy Spirit to come in us and for God to comfort us.
When the prayer time was done we opened our Bible to the book of Acts. We are going to study how the church was started and how the old church looked like in comparison to today's church. It was a reaslly nice study. We talked about striving to be like the early chruch in the sense of being a community and not a church building and being about living out God's love and not who's wrong and who's right.
Once we were done with the Bible study we visited some more with the family and our new friends we made. The wife went around the room trying to get ride of all the snacks and the Pepperdine group were gladly taking all we could, but at one point we tried to stop because we all knew we didn't need to be eating this junk food. Mrs. Mcgee persistently kept offering us food, especially the peanutbutter flavored puffs. Before Grace, my friend realized it, she offer to take some home with her if Mrs Mcgee would put them in a plastic bag. The moment she said that she put her hands over her mouth realizing that if she takes them with her, they will be eaten. Mrs Mcgee ended up giving us the whole bag to take with us.
After saying our goodbyes, Mr. Mcgee drove us back to the tram station. We bought our tickets and boarded the tram. We were the only ones on there the whole 30 minute ride back to Santa Maria Novella. We had a blast on the way back. We told cheesy jokes and stories all while eating the rest of the peanutbutter flavored puffs. It was a pleasant night.
Last night (Wednesday) some friends of mine and I were invited to attend a Bible study at this couples apartment in the outskirts of Florence. They are an older American couple and have been doing mission work for the past twenty or so years, and they felt called to Florence and have been living here for the past two months. I was not quite sure what to expect, but I hadn't been out of the house for two days straight and I was eager to meet new people.
So I met up with my housemates at five and we walked to the train station to take the tram to the outer parts of Florence. We all got to check another mode of transportation off our traveling list. Our stop is the final stop for the tram that we took and once we finally reached it, we were the only ones left on the tram. We stepped out into the coldness of the night and waited to be picked up by the husband. Now I had been warned about the husband's infamous laugh. He was said to have a jolly, big bellied laugh that would last for munites after you were done laughing at whatever was said. But all those warning didn't do him justice. The first minute being in the car, he greeted us with this boistrous laugh that I instantly fell in love with. I knew right then that we were in good hands. He was such a sweet genuine old man.
After about a fifteen minute drive through the Florentine country side we arrive to their apartment complex. We follow him to his apartment and walk in. There we were greeted by his wife and little dog, who was very curious to see us. We sat around their living room and visited awhile becuase we were waitng on three more people to join us for the Bible study. After talking for a bit the first quest arrived. Her name is Laura and she is a local Florentine who is studying not too far from our villa. It was really cool meeting her becuase she didn't know a lot of english so I was able to practice my Italian with her. I found out where she was studying, that she was studying Speech Therapy and that she is twenty years old (like me). She was very sweet, and it was awesome meeting someone outside of the villa that I could potentially become friends with. Once she arrived the couple, the Mcgees, offered us snacks, and all of us being poor college kids were more than appreciative for the snacks. We love snacks. : ) They had tortilla chips, cookies, peach tea, and these small puffs that tasted life peanutbutter! The one thing that I crave while I am here.
Soon after delving into the snacks, the last two guest arrive. One's name is Heather and she is from Enlgand and the other's name is Sylvia, who is a local Florentine as well. Once introductions were made, we began our Bible study. We started out in a time of prayer and it was just so amazing and an enlightening to share this experience with complete strangers all over the world, sharing the same passion to be with God. It was a time where we could all share our woes and struggles and allow the Holy Spirit to come in us and for God to comfort us.
When the prayer time was done we opened our Bible to the book of Acts. We are going to study how the church was started and how the old church looked like in comparison to today's church. It was a reaslly nice study. We talked about striving to be like the early chruch in the sense of being a community and not a church building and being about living out God's love and not who's wrong and who's right.
Once we were done with the Bible study we visited some more with the family and our new friends we made. The wife went around the room trying to get ride of all the snacks and the Pepperdine group were gladly taking all we could, but at one point we tried to stop because we all knew we didn't need to be eating this junk food. Mrs. Mcgee persistently kept offering us food, especially the peanutbutter flavored puffs. Before Grace, my friend realized it, she offer to take some home with her if Mrs Mcgee would put them in a plastic bag. The moment she said that she put her hands over her mouth realizing that if she takes them with her, they will be eaten. Mrs Mcgee ended up giving us the whole bag to take with us.
After saying our goodbyes, Mr. Mcgee drove us back to the tram station. We bought our tickets and boarded the tram. We were the only ones on there the whole 30 minute ride back to Santa Maria Novella. We had a blast on the way back. We told cheesy jokes and stories all while eating the rest of the peanutbutter flavored puffs. It was a pleasant night.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Pompeii
Ciao!
This past weekend, we had an opportunity to go on a house field trip to Pompeii. I couldn't think of any reason why I shouldn't go so I packed my stuff up and left at six am to catch the group train to Naples.
Three hours later we arrive to the city of Naples and then take a bus ride to Mount Vesuvius. The first thing I notice is how dirty Naples is. It really surprised me because I have heard from people that Naples is a beautiful city, but the street were literally piled high, about six feet high, with trash. It wasn't just random piles here and there but there were piles on every street corner, cross ways and medians. I was beginning to become nervous for this trip, but we soon hit the outskirts of the city which became more and more beautiful. Since this was a land covered in Volcanic ash, everything was green and lush.
The bus starts climbing up the mountain side and as we get further up, I begin to feel as if we are entering a rain Forrest. There are vines, bushes, trees growing everywhere. After about an hours drive we finally reach the drop off point in which we are to hike the rest of the way up. The hike was pretty legitimate. There was a steep zigzag along the mountain side and as you climbed higher, you were able to see the city of Naples along the coastline, which was a million times more beautiful than being in the city itself.
At the top of Vesuvius was amazing. The crater was deep and at some points along the way, you could see smoke coming out of the volcano. I was able to hike along the top ridge of the volcanoe to the other side that overlooked Pompeii. It was a spectacular view with the contrast of the vibrant green mountains, crystal blue sea and the old ancient city of Pompeii.
It was really awesome being at the top of Mount Vesuvius. Knowing that in the year 79 AD this volcano destroyed the entire civilization of Pompeii.
After we headed back down off the mountain, we took a bus ride to see Pompeii. Stepping into Pompeii was like stepping back into time. The city was extremely well preserved. There was so much archaeologist have already uncovered but there is so much more to be excavated as well. When we first entered the city, we were able to walk through the amphitheater in which gladiatorial games were held. Right next to the amphitheater was a vineyard that contained the oldest type of grape vine from the ancient world. It is famous for its diverse and rich flavors. One bottle cost around 980 euro!
Passing the vineyard we stepped onto the main streets of Pompeii. An actual ancient Roman road with Stepping stones that reached across the street so one could cross without getting their feet dirty with the grime that covered the streets.
We also saw what a Roman house looked like with the layout and the frescoes. It was so amazing to see the wall frescoes with the different styles of Roman wall painting. These frescoes were so well preserved, Kate and I were definitely geeking out. The next place we visited was the town's brothel, which, ironically, had the biggest line to see ha! It was strange seeing a brothel on a school trip, but it was just another part of Roman culture and another thing to learn about how they lived there lives.
After the brothel, we traveled down to the forum which was my favorite place to see. It had a temple, marble podiums where the orators would stand to make public speeches and the forum also had a basilica, or courthouse. The basilica was my favourite structure to see. It was so fascinating because I got to see what my faith based its house of worship on. When the Christians were granted religious freedom by Constantine, they had to decided how they would build the Church. Early Christians didn't want to base it off of a Greek or Roman temple because then it would be associated with paganism. Instead, they chose the basilica, or courthouse where all the legal processes happened. The basilica was the perfect model for the Church because God served as our head of moral legal standings. So I was able to walk through this basilica and see the nave, aisle, and narthex that constituted our modern day basilica. It was so fascinating!
After leaving Pompeii, the group caught a ferry to the island of Ischia. There we spent all day Saturday and had the most relaxing day ever. Saturday morning we left the hotel around 9 am to go to a spa called Poseidon. It was a spa that was built in the side of a mountain and laid along the mediterranean beach. It was so beautifully filled with trees, flowers, and stone walkways. It had a 'healing' system that consisted of going about five different pools. The first one started at a luke warm temperature that was 28 degrees Celsius and the last ended with 40 degrees Celsius pool for three minutes and the 15 degree Celsius pool for 15 seconds. While the last one was very difficult to transition to, in the end your body felt so refreshed. After going through that cycle, you are suppose to rest your body for one hour. During that hour some friends and I went into town to get some lunch. We stumbled apon a minimarket and the grocer there made us homade sandwhiches with a side of olives. It was the best lunch I have had. The bread was so fresh, the cheese so tasteful and the olives so rich.
After lunch my friends Grace, Bri, Dillion and I decided to explore and so we hiked up along the mountain side. We found some beautiful views, caves, and little bridges over water. It was so fun exploring and it was such a nice and relaxing day which was perfect in preperation for our Humanities midterm that was the next Tuesday.
On the way train ride home, everyone was pulling out their books and notebooks studying like madmen for the Humanities midterm that we were to have in two days. While we were all enjoying the last remnants of our relaxed time at Poseidon, it slowly went away as we traveled closer back to our villa, back to school. We had a pleasant weekend.
This past weekend, we had an opportunity to go on a house field trip to Pompeii. I couldn't think of any reason why I shouldn't go so I packed my stuff up and left at six am to catch the group train to Naples.
Three hours later we arrive to the city of Naples and then take a bus ride to Mount Vesuvius. The first thing I notice is how dirty Naples is. It really surprised me because I have heard from people that Naples is a beautiful city, but the street were literally piled high, about six feet high, with trash. It wasn't just random piles here and there but there were piles on every street corner, cross ways and medians. I was beginning to become nervous for this trip, but we soon hit the outskirts of the city which became more and more beautiful. Since this was a land covered in Volcanic ash, everything was green and lush.
The bus starts climbing up the mountain side and as we get further up, I begin to feel as if we are entering a rain Forrest. There are vines, bushes, trees growing everywhere. After about an hours drive we finally reach the drop off point in which we are to hike the rest of the way up. The hike was pretty legitimate. There was a steep zigzag along the mountain side and as you climbed higher, you were able to see the city of Naples along the coastline, which was a million times more beautiful than being in the city itself.
At the top of Vesuvius was amazing. The crater was deep and at some points along the way, you could see smoke coming out of the volcano. I was able to hike along the top ridge of the volcanoe to the other side that overlooked Pompeii. It was a spectacular view with the contrast of the vibrant green mountains, crystal blue sea and the old ancient city of Pompeii.
It was really awesome being at the top of Mount Vesuvius. Knowing that in the year 79 AD this volcano destroyed the entire civilization of Pompeii.
After we headed back down off the mountain, we took a bus ride to see Pompeii. Stepping into Pompeii was like stepping back into time. The city was extremely well preserved. There was so much archaeologist have already uncovered but there is so much more to be excavated as well. When we first entered the city, we were able to walk through the amphitheater in which gladiatorial games were held. Right next to the amphitheater was a vineyard that contained the oldest type of grape vine from the ancient world. It is famous for its diverse and rich flavors. One bottle cost around 980 euro!
Passing the vineyard we stepped onto the main streets of Pompeii. An actual ancient Roman road with Stepping stones that reached across the street so one could cross without getting their feet dirty with the grime that covered the streets.
We also saw what a Roman house looked like with the layout and the frescoes. It was so amazing to see the wall frescoes with the different styles of Roman wall painting. These frescoes were so well preserved, Kate and I were definitely geeking out. The next place we visited was the town's brothel, which, ironically, had the biggest line to see ha! It was strange seeing a brothel on a school trip, but it was just another part of Roman culture and another thing to learn about how they lived there lives.
After the brothel, we traveled down to the forum which was my favorite place to see. It had a temple, marble podiums where the orators would stand to make public speeches and the forum also had a basilica, or courthouse. The basilica was my favourite structure to see. It was so fascinating because I got to see what my faith based its house of worship on. When the Christians were granted religious freedom by Constantine, they had to decided how they would build the Church. Early Christians didn't want to base it off of a Greek or Roman temple because then it would be associated with paganism. Instead, they chose the basilica, or courthouse where all the legal processes happened. The basilica was the perfect model for the Church because God served as our head of moral legal standings. So I was able to walk through this basilica and see the nave, aisle, and narthex that constituted our modern day basilica. It was so fascinating!
After leaving Pompeii, the group caught a ferry to the island of Ischia. There we spent all day Saturday and had the most relaxing day ever. Saturday morning we left the hotel around 9 am to go to a spa called Poseidon. It was a spa that was built in the side of a mountain and laid along the mediterranean beach. It was so beautifully filled with trees, flowers, and stone walkways. It had a 'healing' system that consisted of going about five different pools. The first one started at a luke warm temperature that was 28 degrees Celsius and the last ended with 40 degrees Celsius pool for three minutes and the 15 degree Celsius pool for 15 seconds. While the last one was very difficult to transition to, in the end your body felt so refreshed. After going through that cycle, you are suppose to rest your body for one hour. During that hour some friends and I went into town to get some lunch. We stumbled apon a minimarket and the grocer there made us homade sandwhiches with a side of olives. It was the best lunch I have had. The bread was so fresh, the cheese so tasteful and the olives so rich.
After lunch my friends Grace, Bri, Dillion and I decided to explore and so we hiked up along the mountain side. We found some beautiful views, caves, and little bridges over water. It was so fun exploring and it was such a nice and relaxing day which was perfect in preperation for our Humanities midterm that was the next Tuesday.
On the way train ride home, everyone was pulling out their books and notebooks studying like madmen for the Humanities midterm that we were to have in two days. While we were all enjoying the last remnants of our relaxed time at Poseidon, it slowly went away as we traveled closer back to our villa, back to school. We had a pleasant weekend.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
First Dinner with "the fam": Lucci di testa
Ciao!
So it has been a really long time since I have written last, but I have been supper busy with school. I am finally able to sit down and write about my fun night that I had tonight.
Kate and I had our first dinner with our adoptive family, the Zenitti family. I was a little bummed that it was tonight because I have two midterms to study for, two stat assignment to complete, and two sociology inquirries to write! I have been a little overwhelmed but this week is almost done and on Friday I am going to Pompeii! I was also really nervous because our family know very little to no English and my Italian is not good, at all.
Kate and I were told that we were going to be picked up between the times of 7:30 and 7:45. Well, 8:10 roles around and we are still waiting for the family to pick us up. Kate and I were getting a bit anxious because we had a lot of studying to do for our Italian midterm tomorrow and we had thought that maybe they had forgotten us. But finally our family arrived. They picked us up and drove us to their house which is actually very close to our villa. On the ride over I was becoming more and more excited for the dinner. My reluctance was wearing away. In the car ride over we were able to talk about different things, all in Italian. I was noticing that I was able to understand them better and I was able to semi-converse back.
We arrived at the house, which was a cute little partment complex with the whole buzz-up-to-the-apartment to let yourself in. After being buzzed in, we climbed five flights of stairs to their apartment. The apartment was so homey with pictures and clutter. I liked it because I felt comfortable there. Guiliette, the daughter, took kate and I into her bedroom and showed us her book collection and where she studies and all her celebrity posters. We really connected because we have similar book taste, celebrity crushes and the same film taste. One of the posters was of the Lion King. It was cool to see something familiar in a foreign land.
After a couple of minutes Claudio, the father, annouced that cena, dinner, was ready. The first course was spaghetti which I have to say (sorry mom) was the best spaghetti I have had. Cladio gave me some pepper sauce to add to my spaghetti, which made it really good and it had a little kick. The next course was potatoes and rabbit, yes rabbit. I have never had rabbit before but it was really good. Kate felt a little bad because she kept thinking she was eating thumper but the whole course was delicious. Claudio was telling me, all in italian, that these potatoes were the best because they were grown in the mountains. He said that potatoes grown in the mountains are better, which I will have to agree. Their flavor was so rich and perfect. Then for dessert the mother brought out grapes, walnuts and a flourless chocolate torte. The torte was so rich and smooth. It was so delicious. Along with dessert we were served a dessert wine which was alright, a bit strong. But Claudio also served us Sicino(?) a.k.a. Italian moonshine! It was only a small bit, less than a shot but once the liquid hit my mouth it immediatley evaporated, it was that strong. blah! But Cladio explaing to us that he made this Sicino himself and he handpicked his supplies in Fiesole. He then got up to get the bottle to show us and it looked like there were either mussles or clams in the bottle. It was all very interesting.
After dinner we sat around and just chatted for about thirty minutes. It was a very pleasant evening and I ended up really enjoying the night. My adoptive family is so nice and welcoming. I am really glad I went tonight, it was definielty worth taking a break from studying. They invited Kate and I to dinner again and the daughter invited us to go shopping. I am excited to get to know Guiliette and the rest of the family!
So it has been a really long time since I have written last, but I have been supper busy with school. I am finally able to sit down and write about my fun night that I had tonight.
Kate and I had our first dinner with our adoptive family, the Zenitti family. I was a little bummed that it was tonight because I have two midterms to study for, two stat assignment to complete, and two sociology inquirries to write! I have been a little overwhelmed but this week is almost done and on Friday I am going to Pompeii! I was also really nervous because our family know very little to no English and my Italian is not good, at all.
Kate and I were told that we were going to be picked up between the times of 7:30 and 7:45. Well, 8:10 roles around and we are still waiting for the family to pick us up. Kate and I were getting a bit anxious because we had a lot of studying to do for our Italian midterm tomorrow and we had thought that maybe they had forgotten us. But finally our family arrived. They picked us up and drove us to their house which is actually very close to our villa. On the ride over I was becoming more and more excited for the dinner. My reluctance was wearing away. In the car ride over we were able to talk about different things, all in Italian. I was noticing that I was able to understand them better and I was able to semi-converse back.
We arrived at the house, which was a cute little partment complex with the whole buzz-up-to-the-apartment to let yourself in. After being buzzed in, we climbed five flights of stairs to their apartment. The apartment was so homey with pictures and clutter. I liked it because I felt comfortable there. Guiliette, the daughter, took kate and I into her bedroom and showed us her book collection and where she studies and all her celebrity posters. We really connected because we have similar book taste, celebrity crushes and the same film taste. One of the posters was of the Lion King. It was cool to see something familiar in a foreign land.
After a couple of minutes Claudio, the father, annouced that cena, dinner, was ready. The first course was spaghetti which I have to say (sorry mom) was the best spaghetti I have had. Cladio gave me some pepper sauce to add to my spaghetti, which made it really good and it had a little kick. The next course was potatoes and rabbit, yes rabbit. I have never had rabbit before but it was really good. Kate felt a little bad because she kept thinking she was eating thumper but the whole course was delicious. Claudio was telling me, all in italian, that these potatoes were the best because they were grown in the mountains. He said that potatoes grown in the mountains are better, which I will have to agree. Their flavor was so rich and perfect. Then for dessert the mother brought out grapes, walnuts and a flourless chocolate torte. The torte was so rich and smooth. It was so delicious. Along with dessert we were served a dessert wine which was alright, a bit strong. But Claudio also served us Sicino(?) a.k.a. Italian moonshine! It was only a small bit, less than a shot but once the liquid hit my mouth it immediatley evaporated, it was that strong. blah! But Cladio explaing to us that he made this Sicino himself and he handpicked his supplies in Fiesole. He then got up to get the bottle to show us and it looked like there were either mussles or clams in the bottle. It was all very interesting.
After dinner we sat around and just chatted for about thirty minutes. It was a very pleasant evening and I ended up really enjoying the night. My adoptive family is so nice and welcoming. I am really glad I went tonight, it was definielty worth taking a break from studying. They invited Kate and I to dinner again and the daughter invited us to go shopping. I am excited to get to know Guiliette and the rest of the family!
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Assisi
Ciao!
So this was my second weekend to travel and Kate, Andrea, Maddy and I decided to take a day trip to Assisi and Perugia. On our three hour train ride to Assisi, we passed through Perugia and to our surprise saw that there wasn't really much to it. Although once we arrived to Assisi everyone immediatley agreed to stay in Assisi for the day instead of going to Perugia. Assisi was beautiful. The train ride in was so peaceful and relaxing. Andrea and I couldn't stop looking out the windows to see beautiful country sides with vineyards, sunflower fields (which sadly enough are not in season) and Tuscan villas everywhere! We even saw this old medieval fortress on a hill.
About three hours later we finally arive in Assisi. Once we got there we looked around to see where we could by out bus fare for the ride into the center of town where St. Francis's church is located. I went up to the bar and all in Italian asked if this was the place I could by my bus ticket and how many I needed. I was pretty excited that I didn't have to use any english!
On the bus we were riding along more country side which its beauty will never cease to amaze me. It was a winding road and once we took the last curve we came upon the town of Assisi. It was breath taking. The whole town is situated on top of a hill. All the house are clumped together, it looks like a medieval city. Then on the tip of the hill was St. Francis' church. That alone was breathtaking. The church is constructed with this white stone. It is as white as snow and is almost blinding against the days sun. The church is architecturally beautiful. It is open with atrium's and courtyards. Even though there were a lot of tourist, there was just something that was so peaceful and serene about the place. Maybe it was the spirit of St. Francis. The inside of the church is even more brilliant. Every inch of the walls and ceilings are covered with brightly painted frescoes. Each part of the wall had its own design and story from the Bible. The groin vaulting was covered with turquoise and stars. It was mesmerizing to see.
After spending some time in the Church, we decided to explore the city for a bit.
We took winding side streets up and up and up and came out onto a place that over looked the city and the Tuscan country side. Then we headed back down into the heart of the city to find an indoor market. The market had locals that brought their own products to sell. There was all different kind of honey, the sweetest I have ever tasted. There was olive oil, the smoothest I have ever tried. Then there was also jams, chestnut spreads, and soups. I wanted to buy everything, it was just so good!
When we were done walking through the market, we decided it was time to head back home. Instead of taking the bus back to the train station, we walked. It was a thirty minute walk down a brick road that was a straight shot from the train station to Assisi. As we walked we passed old abandoned villas, vineyards and meadows. It was a pleasant walk on a perfect day.
Assisi was truly a wonderful city. I would like to go back there again sometime soon : )
So this was my second weekend to travel and Kate, Andrea, Maddy and I decided to take a day trip to Assisi and Perugia. On our three hour train ride to Assisi, we passed through Perugia and to our surprise saw that there wasn't really much to it. Although once we arrived to Assisi everyone immediatley agreed to stay in Assisi for the day instead of going to Perugia. Assisi was beautiful. The train ride in was so peaceful and relaxing. Andrea and I couldn't stop looking out the windows to see beautiful country sides with vineyards, sunflower fields (which sadly enough are not in season) and Tuscan villas everywhere! We even saw this old medieval fortress on a hill.
About three hours later we finally arive in Assisi. Once we got there we looked around to see where we could by out bus fare for the ride into the center of town where St. Francis's church is located. I went up to the bar and all in Italian asked if this was the place I could by my bus ticket and how many I needed. I was pretty excited that I didn't have to use any english!
On the bus we were riding along more country side which its beauty will never cease to amaze me. It was a winding road and once we took the last curve we came upon the town of Assisi. It was breath taking. The whole town is situated on top of a hill. All the house are clumped together, it looks like a medieval city. Then on the tip of the hill was St. Francis' church. That alone was breathtaking. The church is constructed with this white stone. It is as white as snow and is almost blinding against the days sun. The church is architecturally beautiful. It is open with atrium's and courtyards. Even though there were a lot of tourist, there was just something that was so peaceful and serene about the place. Maybe it was the spirit of St. Francis. The inside of the church is even more brilliant. Every inch of the walls and ceilings are covered with brightly painted frescoes. Each part of the wall had its own design and story from the Bible. The groin vaulting was covered with turquoise and stars. It was mesmerizing to see.
After spending some time in the Church, we decided to explore the city for a bit.
We took winding side streets up and up and up and came out onto a place that over looked the city and the Tuscan country side. Then we headed back down into the heart of the city to find an indoor market. The market had locals that brought their own products to sell. There was all different kind of honey, the sweetest I have ever tasted. There was olive oil, the smoothest I have ever tried. Then there was also jams, chestnut spreads, and soups. I wanted to buy everything, it was just so good!
When we were done walking through the market, we decided it was time to head back home. Instead of taking the bus back to the train station, we walked. It was a thirty minute walk down a brick road that was a straight shot from the train station to Assisi. As we walked we passed old abandoned villas, vineyards and meadows. It was a pleasant walk on a perfect day.
Assisi was truly a wonderful city. I would like to go back there again sometime soon : )
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