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
21 April 2010
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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