I'm going home today!!! I can't believe my year abroad is coming to a close. What a year; I have lived in Italy for a little over 11 months, visited six European countries, taken three classes at the oldest university in the world, and eaten countless pizzas! I have learned so much about Italian culture and about being a world citizen, not just a U.S. citizen. More importantly, I have learned a lot about myself. This has been a truly amazing experience, and I feel so blessed to have had this opportunity. Looking forward to seeing everyone back home and sharing my stories!
xoxo
31 July 2010
05 June 2010
Day 286! Ohhhh where has the time gone?!
Well, despite my best intentions (not really best efforts, obviously haha), here I am again, returning to my blog and all my faithful readers with my tail between my legs. Almost a month again since my last post! To be fair, not much has changed since my last post. May was a month spent almost entirely on studying. I must say, there are some really lovely things about Italy, but their university system was and is a terrible idea. Sure, at first it seems like such a great plan--almost an entire month between the end of classes and when you take exams, so much time to study! But ughhhhh, how I miss one solid week of finals like at IU. This whole extended exam period just leads to extended STRESS! I don't think I can take it much longer! But luckily I don't have to haha. My LAST EXAM is on Monday. FINALLY!!!!
Ok so had to get that off my chest. Since my last post:
Mostly studying:( I'll skip describing that, and move on to more interesting things...
BCSP planned a trip to the Tuscan countryside! We had ourselves a little bus trip May 13 and 14. Tuscany is GORGEOUS! It was soooo nice to get out of Bologna for a couple days and to just enjoy everyone's company. I really like when BCSP plans events for us because I tend to be really bad at keeping in touch with some of the kids otherwise, and everyone really is a lot of fun!
So, we left really early on the morning of May 13. Our first stop was Monteriggioni, a very small but culturally important medieval town. It looks like a fortress, surrounded by walls that we got to walk around on, providing an excellent view of the surrounding countryside. OHHH how I miss trees and grass, living in a city! haha We just wandered around the city and up on the walls for a while, it doesn't take long at all to see the whole town.
Next stop was Siena! What a beautiful city! (Just for you James Bond fans, Siena is the city at the beginning of Quantum of Solace!) Siena is famous for hosting the Palio twice a year. It is a horse race in which the 17 contrade (neighborhoods) of Siena compete for the trophy. We had some free time to wander the city and grab lunch, then we reconvened and were given a tour of the church of one of the 17 neighborhoods, Selva (forest). There we learned that it is tradition to take the horse into the church and bless it before the race! The symbol for Selva is the rhinoceros, so that is why I have so many pictures of little rhinos in my album haha.
After Siena, we headed on to our accomodations for the night. We stayed at Sant'Anna in Camprena, a former monastery. I've never seen this movie, but apparently The English Patient was filmed there! The scenery was beyond beautiful, the rooms were quaint and comfortable, and the food was delicious (to be expected!)
The next morning, we all hopped back on the bus and headed to Pienza, a city we had learned a lot about in our Art History class, so it was pretty cool to actually see it in person. It is known for being a true city of the Renaissance. Another beautiful, if somewhat small, city. Again, we just wandered about. One of my favorite parts was finding Via dell'Amore and Via del Bacio (Love Street and Kiss Street haha).
Then on to Montalcino, another hilltop town of tuscany. We were supposed to do a two-hour hike from here to a "near-by" church, but the weather was iffy, so we just stopped for lunch here instead and added another stop to our trip.
Our bonus city was San Gimignano. I'm so glad we got to go here, it is a really neat city. Once again, it is a walled medieval town. It's famous for having conserved 14 of its medieval towers, whereas cities like Bologna have lost most of theirs.
After San Gimignano, we headed on back to Bologna, and I headed (unfortunately) on back to the books!
May 17 was my first University of Bologna exam of the semester, Italian Literature. I wasn't satisfied with the grade my professor was going to give me, so I opted to retake the exam. That is the one I have on Monday. The only good thing about that is that I have already studied a lot, and now I know what types of things to study more based on the questions my professor asked me the first time around! I'm hoping I do better the second time around, because I want to be done!!!
Then MORE studying.
May 27 was my History of the Italian Language exam, which went TERRIBLY. That professor was HATEFUL to all of us foreign students. No one was happy with the grade they got. He was rude to almost all of us because we weren't fluent in Italian, knowing full well that we aren't native Italians. Also, since he let us foreign students take our exam on a special day, separately from the Italian students, he sees himself as being overly magnanimous to us already, and therefore will not let us retake the exam. Soooo there goes my GPA. Thanks, Italy.
Sooo anyway, that's about all that has been going on. The weather here has be absolutely beautiful, and I can't wait to be done studying so I can enjoy it! Only two more days, and I'm FINALLY DONE! This has been the longest school year EVER!
xoxo
P.S. OF COURSE pix from TUSCANY!
Ok so had to get that off my chest. Since my last post:
Mostly studying:( I'll skip describing that, and move on to more interesting things...
BCSP planned a trip to the Tuscan countryside! We had ourselves a little bus trip May 13 and 14. Tuscany is GORGEOUS! It was soooo nice to get out of Bologna for a couple days and to just enjoy everyone's company. I really like when BCSP plans events for us because I tend to be really bad at keeping in touch with some of the kids otherwise, and everyone really is a lot of fun!
So, we left really early on the morning of May 13. Our first stop was Monteriggioni, a very small but culturally important medieval town. It looks like a fortress, surrounded by walls that we got to walk around on, providing an excellent view of the surrounding countryside. OHHH how I miss trees and grass, living in a city! haha We just wandered around the city and up on the walls for a while, it doesn't take long at all to see the whole town.
Next stop was Siena! What a beautiful city! (Just for you James Bond fans, Siena is the city at the beginning of Quantum of Solace!) Siena is famous for hosting the Palio twice a year. It is a horse race in which the 17 contrade (neighborhoods) of Siena compete for the trophy. We had some free time to wander the city and grab lunch, then we reconvened and were given a tour of the church of one of the 17 neighborhoods, Selva (forest). There we learned that it is tradition to take the horse into the church and bless it before the race! The symbol for Selva is the rhinoceros, so that is why I have so many pictures of little rhinos in my album haha.
After Siena, we headed on to our accomodations for the night. We stayed at Sant'Anna in Camprena, a former monastery. I've never seen this movie, but apparently The English Patient was filmed there! The scenery was beyond beautiful, the rooms were quaint and comfortable, and the food was delicious (to be expected!)
The next morning, we all hopped back on the bus and headed to Pienza, a city we had learned a lot about in our Art History class, so it was pretty cool to actually see it in person. It is known for being a true city of the Renaissance. Another beautiful, if somewhat small, city. Again, we just wandered about. One of my favorite parts was finding Via dell'Amore and Via del Bacio (Love Street and Kiss Street haha).
Then on to Montalcino, another hilltop town of tuscany. We were supposed to do a two-hour hike from here to a "near-by" church, but the weather was iffy, so we just stopped for lunch here instead and added another stop to our trip.
Our bonus city was San Gimignano. I'm so glad we got to go here, it is a really neat city. Once again, it is a walled medieval town. It's famous for having conserved 14 of its medieval towers, whereas cities like Bologna have lost most of theirs.
After San Gimignano, we headed on back to Bologna, and I headed (unfortunately) on back to the books!
May 17 was my first University of Bologna exam of the semester, Italian Literature. I wasn't satisfied with the grade my professor was going to give me, so I opted to retake the exam. That is the one I have on Monday. The only good thing about that is that I have already studied a lot, and now I know what types of things to study more based on the questions my professor asked me the first time around! I'm hoping I do better the second time around, because I want to be done!!!
Then MORE studying.
May 27 was my History of the Italian Language exam, which went TERRIBLY. That professor was HATEFUL to all of us foreign students. No one was happy with the grade they got. He was rude to almost all of us because we weren't fluent in Italian, knowing full well that we aren't native Italians. Also, since he let us foreign students take our exam on a special day, separately from the Italian students, he sees himself as being overly magnanimous to us already, and therefore will not let us retake the exam. Soooo there goes my GPA. Thanks, Italy.
Sooo anyway, that's about all that has been going on. The weather here has be absolutely beautiful, and I can't wait to be done studying so I can enjoy it! Only two more days, and I'm FINALLY DONE! This has been the longest school year EVER!
xoxo
P.S. OF COURSE pix from TUSCANY!
09 May 2010
Day 259!
Ciao!
The last couple weeks have just been a blur of class notes and textbooks and flashcards! I have been studying pretty much non-stop for my exams. My Italian Art History class is finally over, at least! The written exam for that class was May 3rd, and the oral exam was May 5th. I got a 30 (A+)! I studied soooo much for it, and it was worth it. Unfortunately, that was the easiest of my three classes by faaaar.
I still have had a little bit of time for fun with friends, though. Nic, Rodolfo, Mariella, and I had a little Cinco de Mayo/done with art history celebration Wednesday night, which was really fun. Thursday was my LAST UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA CLASS EVER! haha Now I just have to keep studying soooo hard for my last two exams.
Thursday evening after class, I got to be in a music video made by my friend Sky Dylan-Robbins, one of the other full-year BCSP students. It was so fun, there was just a big group of us kids dancing around in Piazza Maggiore (the main square in Bologna) and on the Neptune Fountain. We all had our iPods with our own music going, so to everyone else we just looked crazy! We gathered quite a crowd, and right after we finished, a police car even came crawling by, and they told us not to do it again! Yikes! But Sky was done filming anyway, so everything was fine haha.
Then yesterday, I got filmed again for the show House Hunters International on HGTV. Professor Ricci and his wife are going to be on it, and they wanted some shots of Professor Ricci "doing his job" aka pretending to talk to students about their classes haha. Anyway, Professor Ricci called Nic and me and asked us to help out, which of course I did gladly haha. I am not sure when the episode will air, or how much I will even be in it, but I will try to keep you updated. It's not much, but still kind of exciting haha.
Well, I have a big day of studying ahead of me, and I want to get to the gym before I start in on the books, so I better go!
xoxo
P.S. Here is a link to the music video. It turned out so well! Sky is really talented.
The last couple weeks have just been a blur of class notes and textbooks and flashcards! I have been studying pretty much non-stop for my exams. My Italian Art History class is finally over, at least! The written exam for that class was May 3rd, and the oral exam was May 5th. I got a 30 (A+)! I studied soooo much for it, and it was worth it. Unfortunately, that was the easiest of my three classes by faaaar.
I still have had a little bit of time for fun with friends, though. Nic, Rodolfo, Mariella, and I had a little Cinco de Mayo/done with art history celebration Wednesday night, which was really fun. Thursday was my LAST UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA CLASS EVER! haha Now I just have to keep studying soooo hard for my last two exams.
Thursday evening after class, I got to be in a music video made by my friend Sky Dylan-Robbins, one of the other full-year BCSP students. It was so fun, there was just a big group of us kids dancing around in Piazza Maggiore (the main square in Bologna) and on the Neptune Fountain. We all had our iPods with our own music going, so to everyone else we just looked crazy! We gathered quite a crowd, and right after we finished, a police car even came crawling by, and they told us not to do it again! Yikes! But Sky was done filming anyway, so everything was fine haha.
Then yesterday, I got filmed again for the show House Hunters International on HGTV. Professor Ricci and his wife are going to be on it, and they wanted some shots of Professor Ricci "doing his job" aka pretending to talk to students about their classes haha. Anyway, Professor Ricci called Nic and me and asked us to help out, which of course I did gladly haha. I am not sure when the episode will air, or how much I will even be in it, but I will try to keep you updated. It's not much, but still kind of exciting haha.
Well, I have a big day of studying ahead of me, and I want to get to the gym before I start in on the books, so I better go!
xoxo
P.S. Here is a link to the music video. It turned out so well! Sky is really talented.
21 April 2010
Day 241!
Ciao! I'm trying to be better about keeping my blog updated again, like I was at the beginning of the year. We will see how it goes haha. Today has been an absolutely beautiful day here in Bologna! The high temperature was 76 degrees! I got up and went to the gym with Mariella in the morning, then I spent the afternoon in Giardini Margherita enjoying the sunshine and reading for my class. I really miss my huge terrace at my old apartment because I would have been laying out all day today! When I was leaving the Giardini, there was this whole gaggle of little Italian children at the outdoor gelateria in the Giardini. The adults had pushed all but one of the little round tables together into a big line, and there were maybe 25 little kids all sitting around them eating their gelatos, looking so happy and contented. It was the cutest thing, and it put me in an even better mood! Little children speaking Italian is so funny because they speak it better than I do! haha
xoxo
xoxo
18 April 2010
Day 238!
Ciao! I'm sitting here at the end of a really fun, exhausting weekend, preparing myself for about a month of hardcore studying! Yesterday I went to Mantua with my BSCP art history class for a field trip. We went to see the Palazzo Ducale because we have been studying the art from the Middle Ages through the Renaissance, and there are some really good examples of that time period to be seen in the palace. We spent the morning at the palace learning about art from Prof. Benevolo, and then had the rest of the day to ourselves. Mariella, Nic, and I wandered Mantua for a little bit, but it was drizzly so we decided to head back to Bologna on the first train available.
Today is my friend Ronnie's birthday. She and I were best friends from kindergarten through fifth grade, when she moved schools. Now she goes to IU, too, and is studying in Florence this semester! About a month ago, she came to visit me in Bologna, so I wanted to go to Florence to celebrate her 21st with her! So Mariella, Jesse, Brandon, and I all took the train to Florence at about 8 last night. Mariella and I did what I did last fall with some of the year long students--we went down to Florence, stayed out all night, and just took the first train back in the morning at 4:30! It was exhausting, but really fun and worth it. It was so good to see Ronnie and to celebrate her birthday with her. It was fun to go out dancing, especially since I have to lock myself away from the world with only my school books for company for a while! Mar and I got back to Bologna at about 6 this morning and just crashed, of course. Today I have just been recovering and trying to finish up some reading for art history. Got to prepare myself for the exams coming up!
xoxo
Today is my friend Ronnie's birthday. She and I were best friends from kindergarten through fifth grade, when she moved schools. Now she goes to IU, too, and is studying in Florence this semester! About a month ago, she came to visit me in Bologna, so I wanted to go to Florence to celebrate her 21st with her! So Mariella, Jesse, Brandon, and I all took the train to Florence at about 8 last night. Mariella and I did what I did last fall with some of the year long students--we went down to Florence, stayed out all night, and just took the first train back in the morning at 4:30! It was exhausting, but really fun and worth it. It was so good to see Ronnie and to celebrate her birthday with her. It was fun to go out dancing, especially since I have to lock myself away from the world with only my school books for company for a while! Mar and I got back to Bologna at about 6 this morning and just crashed, of course. Today I have just been recovering and trying to finish up some reading for art history. Got to prepare myself for the exams coming up!
xoxo
13 April 2010
12 April 2010
Day 232!
Ciao! Still here! I am just getting around to posting my pix from my spring break trip to PARIS! Mariella's mom came to town during our spring break, and the three of us ladies went to Paris. Mar's mom has been five or six times before, so she was our own personal tour guide. I LOVE PARIS. It is easily my favorite place that I have been so far! We were there from March 29-April 2, and we did all of the touristy things we could possibly fit in. We arrived Monday evening, so we just got settled and planned our week.
Tuesday we went to Sainte-Chapelle, "a gem of High Gothic architecture," and the Conciergerie, the prison where Marie Antoinette was held before being executed. We also saw Notre Dame and wandered the city a bit before stopping at a cool vintage shop called King of Frip that was right by our apartment (which was in a wonderful part of town, by the way, right on the Rive Gauche). We went to a long-established restaurant called Chartier for dinner, and I had steak tartar! Sooooo good!
Wednesday we started with the Arc de Triomphe and then worked our way down the Champ Elysees looking at all of the shops. We stopped for "tea" at Laduree, where I had a delicious cappuccino and a pistachio eclair! Yum! Laduree was sooo pretty, all decorated in light greens and pinks. As Mariella pointed out, it felt like being inside a faberge egg! I also bought some macaroons to go. I had to try macaroons in Paris! (They were also delicious, of course, and were gone by the end of the day!) Then we were pretty tired of shopping, but had one more errand to accomplish on the Champs Elysees: get beer at McDonald's. Which we finally did, but only after learning that you have to order something salty first. So we followed our "tea" with french fries and beer:) We continued on to the Louvre, walking through the Tuileries gardens. The Louvre was great, but so overwhelming! Mariella and I just darted about seeing the main attractions, like the Mona Lisa. We were getting a little worn down by that time. We stopped for dinner on the way back to the apartment and passed out once we got there!
Thursday was our last full day in Paris. We started by taking the train out to see Versailles. Due to some ticket issues, I ended up just going through on my own. I buzzed through, seeing the things I wanted to see (mainly the Hall of Mirrors) and then we walked around the gardens for a bit. Versailles is sooooo beautiful and decadent, but also a little overwhelming! We had lunch at a TEX MEX place! haha It was funny to find a tex mex restaurant pretty much next door to Versailles, but it was sooo good! Then we took the train back into town and headed to Sacre Coeur, a beautiful church up on a hill overlooking the city. It was a beautiful day, not rainy like it had been the rest of the week. It was in that neighborhood that we finally found crepes! We had been wanting them since our first day in Paris, but had some trouble finding a place. After dinner, we bought a baugette and a bottle of pink champagne to take to the Eiffel tower, our grand finale. Once we got there, we realized we couldn't take up the bottle, so we drank our champagne underneath while waiting in line. But we snuck the bread up and had a baugette sword fight on the first floor of the tower. We made it to the very top of the tower, and it was so cool to see the whole city spread out before us at night! The tower sparkles for the first ten minutes of every hour at night, and it started sparkling while we were up at the very top! We also got to see the whole thing sparkle because it started up again by the time we got back down. It was so beautiful, I love the Eiffel Tower so much and would live at the top if I could!
Unfortunately on Friday, we only had time to wake up and get worn out selves to the airport to catch our plane back to Bologna. It was such a good trip though, and I really hope I get to go back!!!
We got back to Bologna Friday afternoon and rested up that night. Saturday morning, we hopped on a train to Genoa to spend Easter with Mariella's aunt and uncle and cousins. We spent Saturday night and Suday morning there, enjoying being with an Italian family (i.e. eating a lot of good food), then took the train back to Bologna Sunday afternoon because Mar's mom was flying back to the U.S. on Monday. Mariella, her mom, Nic, and I had a lovely Easter dinner. Mar and her mom made American breakfast for dinner! We had pancakes and eggs, and it was sooo delicious! Overall it was a really great Easter break, and it was over wayyy too soon:-/
Now it's back to the grind. Classes are actually almost over, and the craaaazy studying for exams will begin. This is my last week of my Italian Literature class. If all goes well, I will be done with school for this year by the end of May... ugh speaking of which, I need to do some studying!
xoxo
P.S. PIX from PARIS heeeere.
Tuesday we went to Sainte-Chapelle, "a gem of High Gothic architecture," and the Conciergerie, the prison where Marie Antoinette was held before being executed. We also saw Notre Dame and wandered the city a bit before stopping at a cool vintage shop called King of Frip that was right by our apartment (which was in a wonderful part of town, by the way, right on the Rive Gauche). We went to a long-established restaurant called Chartier for dinner, and I had steak tartar! Sooooo good!
Wednesday we started with the Arc de Triomphe and then worked our way down the Champ Elysees looking at all of the shops. We stopped for "tea" at Laduree, where I had a delicious cappuccino and a pistachio eclair! Yum! Laduree was sooo pretty, all decorated in light greens and pinks. As Mariella pointed out, it felt like being inside a faberge egg! I also bought some macaroons to go. I had to try macaroons in Paris! (They were also delicious, of course, and were gone by the end of the day!) Then we were pretty tired of shopping, but had one more errand to accomplish on the Champs Elysees: get beer at McDonald's. Which we finally did, but only after learning that you have to order something salty first. So we followed our "tea" with french fries and beer:) We continued on to the Louvre, walking through the Tuileries gardens. The Louvre was great, but so overwhelming! Mariella and I just darted about seeing the main attractions, like the Mona Lisa. We were getting a little worn down by that time. We stopped for dinner on the way back to the apartment and passed out once we got there!
Thursday was our last full day in Paris. We started by taking the train out to see Versailles. Due to some ticket issues, I ended up just going through on my own. I buzzed through, seeing the things I wanted to see (mainly the Hall of Mirrors) and then we walked around the gardens for a bit. Versailles is sooooo beautiful and decadent, but also a little overwhelming! We had lunch at a TEX MEX place! haha It was funny to find a tex mex restaurant pretty much next door to Versailles, but it was sooo good! Then we took the train back into town and headed to Sacre Coeur, a beautiful church up on a hill overlooking the city. It was a beautiful day, not rainy like it had been the rest of the week. It was in that neighborhood that we finally found crepes! We had been wanting them since our first day in Paris, but had some trouble finding a place. After dinner, we bought a baugette and a bottle of pink champagne to take to the Eiffel tower, our grand finale. Once we got there, we realized we couldn't take up the bottle, so we drank our champagne underneath while waiting in line. But we snuck the bread up and had a baugette sword fight on the first floor of the tower. We made it to the very top of the tower, and it was so cool to see the whole city spread out before us at night! The tower sparkles for the first ten minutes of every hour at night, and it started sparkling while we were up at the very top! We also got to see the whole thing sparkle because it started up again by the time we got back down. It was so beautiful, I love the Eiffel Tower so much and would live at the top if I could!
Unfortunately on Friday, we only had time to wake up and get worn out selves to the airport to catch our plane back to Bologna. It was such a good trip though, and I really hope I get to go back!!!
We got back to Bologna Friday afternoon and rested up that night. Saturday morning, we hopped on a train to Genoa to spend Easter with Mariella's aunt and uncle and cousins. We spent Saturday night and Suday morning there, enjoying being with an Italian family (i.e. eating a lot of good food), then took the train back to Bologna Sunday afternoon because Mar's mom was flying back to the U.S. on Monday. Mariella, her mom, Nic, and I had a lovely Easter dinner. Mar and her mom made American breakfast for dinner! We had pancakes and eggs, and it was sooo delicious! Overall it was a really great Easter break, and it was over wayyy too soon:-/
Now it's back to the grind. Classes are actually almost over, and the craaaazy studying for exams will begin. This is my last week of my Italian Literature class. If all goes well, I will be done with school for this year by the end of May... ugh speaking of which, I need to do some studying!
xoxo
P.S. PIX from PARIS heeeere.
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