We tried to wake up at a normal time, but slept until noon again. We started working on Christening stuff as soon as we got up, and finally had lunch around 2pm after I was starving. After lunch we went swimming because it was finally warm and sunny. Then we laid out until about 6pm, and I at least got my base tan from Italy back. Afterwards we went into town to the Super-U to buy popcorn and candy, then went to the bar to use the internet, which was pretty quick. Then we had to go home for dinner, and after dinner I packed all my stuff and figured out getting to the train station tomorrow, then we finished Pride and Prejudice, which took about 4 hours.
Michigan State University: Classical Republicanism in Rome and Florence, Italy, Summer, 2011
Friday, July 22
Who doesn't love Colin Firth?
Day 62: Wednesday
I slept until noon, had tea and pain au chocolat for breakfast, got dressed, then had lunch. Another Frenchie arrive and I failed at bises again. After lunch we went into town to the bar to use the internet. We ordered some teas at the bar, then figured out the internet. Then we walked around a bit more, came back, went up to the lavender fields to take pictures, then came back to go in the pool. It was pretty cold, but still fun. The best part was when Hilary told us to flip over Johann on the floaty thing because he didn’t understand English and wouldn’t see it coming. It was quite funny. Eventually we got too cold and got out and laid in the sun a bit before we got too cold for that too. Then we had dinner, and after we watched Johnny English and the beginning of the BBC Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth, then went to bed around 1am.
Dieulefit
Day 61: Tuesday
Got ready to go to the bus, downed some tea, and checked out. We got on the bus to Terminal 5, then we had to wait in line forever to drop our bags because we picked the one line that wasn’t moving. Finally when it was our turn, my bag was 3kgs over, so I took out my shoes, toiletries, and folder, and then it was fine. My backpack was soooo heavy though. After checking in we went through security without any problems, then found a place for our last English Breakfast. It was yummy but not enough beans. After breakfast we still had like an hour before our gate was open, so we just hung around at the restaurant. Finally it was time to head to our gate, and then we sat down and waited for our flight. We even managed to get seats together during check in, and there was no one in the seat next to us. The flight was only about an hour, but pretty turbulent so I couldn’t sleep even though I was very tired. We landed in Lyon around 11am, then found our way to the train into central Lyon for the train station. There, I got my first pain au chocolat. The machines didn’t like our credit cards, so we had to wait in line to buy our tickets, but we couldn’t figure out which one, so we waited in different lines. Mine was much shorter, so I was helped right away. I used my French and asked if I could get tickets for the TER train there, and she said yes and for where, and I told her Montelimar for two people, then she asked how old I was and I could not think of the French word for 20, only the Italian one, so we switched into English. We only had to wait about 45 minutes for the train, and then we found some seats and settled on. We made it to Montelimar about on time, but we had to wait an hour for the bus, so while we waited I bought my ticket to Paris for Friday. The man helping me did not speak English very much, so I got to use my French again. I was able to tell him which train I wanted for where on which day and at which time, and I asked if there were assigned seats. Afer figuring that out, we went to wait for the bus. We weren’t sure which bus it was, so we decided to follow these other people that were talking about Dieulefit. The bus finally came (10 minutes late), and when I tried to bring my bag on she told me it was “Trop gros!” and put it underneath. The ride was about 40 minutes, and we had no idea when we were getting off. Luckily we saw Victoria and Hilary as we pulled in, and the bus driver knew we were getting off there. We got our stuff into the car, and then drove to the house. There’s not enough room for my suitcase in the room, so I just have to leave it downstairs. I’m sleeping on a mattress on the floor in Victoria’s room while Elli is sleeping on a pull out cot there, so it’s definitely cozy! I met all the French family, failed at greeting them with bises, and then had some tea. Before dinner we went out for a drive through downtown Dieulefit, then up to Poet-Laval and walked around. It is a lot like Cinque Terre, only without the ocean and with French and no tourists. For dinner was fish soup that Elli and Victoria didn’t even like, and I couldn’t even stand the smell. I was able to follow most of the dinner conversation between the French family, and I tried to use a little bit of mine. After dinner I was verrrry tired, so I went to bed. 32 hours of no sleep, yaaay.
Heathrow Terminal 5 Travelodge
Day 60: Monday
I didn’t wake up until around 1pm, then we had breakfast, then packed and got ready to go to the hotel. We had Chinese for dinner, and then got all our stuff in the car and drove to the hotel. Elli and I said goodbye to Bev and Harry, then checked into the hotel without any problems. The hotel room didn’t have any phone, but it did have a bottle opener. And we had to pay 10 pounds each for internet. I showered, and interneted all night. Literally. Neither of us slept. We had to leave at 5:30 for our bus to the airport anyway, so it wasn’t really worth the hour or two of sleep.
Igtham Mote
Day 59: Sunday
We slept in again, then got up around noon for breakfast. It was raining, but we decided to visit Igtham Mote anyway. We put on some wellies because the grounds would be very muddy and wet. Only Elli, Bev, and I went, and we walked around the grounds a little bit before going inside the house. The house had a moat, which was cool! I liked walking around the house and learning random things, but my favorite part, of course, was the library. The house was closing, however, so we had to go back home. We had dinner, then sat around watching the women’s soccer final of USA verses Japan. It was very intense and they went into penalty shoot out to settled the tie, which Japan won. After the game, I went upstairs and got ready for bed.
London with KRISTA!
Day 58: Saturday
We woke up nice and early to be on our train to London in time. We had some breakfast, then were on our way. We were super excited to see Krista! Our train into town was about an hour, then we had to switch to the underground, and by 9:45 we were at Notting Hill Gate tube station. We were so excited to see Krista that our hearts were pounding and we couldn’t breathe. When we got outside, we waited for about 10 seconds until we saw her, and we shouted “KRISTA!” and tackled her. We hugged for at least 5 minutes, making a huge scene. We were so excited! Finally we decided we should probably move or we would never do anything, so we walked toward Portobello Road to the market. We walked around, did a little shopping, but mostly chatted with Krista. I did buy a gift for my brother, and I wanted to buy a billion scarves, as usual. We met Krista’s friends, and then it started to rain unforgivingly, so we had to get out the coats and umbrellas, and my pants got soaked. We walked miserably in the rain because there was nowhere to go inside that wasn’t already too crowded. Finally we made to back to the tube station and went back to Krista’s apartment to briefly change. Then we went with Krista to Regent’s College for lunch where she used her student card to get all three of us lunch for only 16 pounds. I had to eat pasta, but oh well. Then we sat for two hours talking with Krista until the weather outside looked agreeable finally. We walked around Regent’s Park to the rose garden where Krista showed us her favorite roses. They were very pretty! Then it was about time to head to the movie theatre for HARRY POTTTTER!!!!! We had to wait forever for Krista’s friends to show up, and of course as soon as they did the skies opened up and it pissed on us again. It was a miserable walk to the theatre, but we finally made it and got settled in, then I could start being excited. The movie was good, and I cried for the entire last half, except the very end where they looked ridiculous and we laughed. I was satisfied with the movie, and I’m excited to see it in the states again after I read the 7th book again. The end of Harry Potter….sigh…sad panda. After the movie we went to the pub by Krista’s flat for dinner. I had English Breakfast, which they thought was weird that I wanted breakfast for dinner. After dinner we decided it was time to head back to Bev’s, so we briefly went back to Krista’s flat, then she walked us to the tube station to say goodbye. I will miss my Krista, but I will get to see her soon when we move back to State into OUR apartment! It was such a great day! Elli and I had no problems figuring out the trains back, and we got home around 10pm, and I was very sleepy.
Knoll Park
Day 57: Friday
I woke up around 10, but we didn’t get out of bed until around 2. Bev made us omlettes for lunch, then we went for a walk around Knoll Park. There were deer everywhere on the golf course, and we got pretty close to some of them. After the walk we went down to the pub for dinner, and I had a pint of cider and a really delicious chicken curry with naan. We sat and talked at dinner for quite a long time, then went home, and I interneted until bed.
On to Sevenoaks
Day 56: Thursday
Woke up, toast for breakfast, then began packing everything back up and cleaning our room. By the time we finished we had just enough time to take one last walk to the heath to say goodbye, then we went into town for fish and chips. Obviously I didn’t have any fish, but I did have a delicious jacket potato with baked beans. After lunch it was time for Elli and I to catch our bus, so we said goodbye to granny and granddad and thanked them for all their kindness, and we were on our way. We made it to Poole and transferred to our bus to London without any problems. I was excited to find the bus was equipped with wifi, so I was able to entertain myself on the internet for two hours of the bus ride until my computer battery died. The wifi was spotty and slow, though, but at least I was able to talk to both Jordan and Mike. Finally, we arrived at Victoria station in London where we had to transfer to our other bus. We had to wait for about an hour, however, so I read some Thomas Paine. We got on our other bus to Tumbridge Wells, which did not have wifi, and looked out the window as we drove through London. We got to see the eye, Big Ben, and Parliament, and we snapped a quick photo. The rest of the time we were driving through the jank part of London commenting on how, if we were with Accent, that’s where they would house us. We ran into a lot of traffic, of course, but finally we arrived where Elli’s godmother, Bev, was waiting to pick us up. Bev and her son Harry drove us to their house in Sevenoaks where we got settled in, had some tea, and dinner. We chatted for quite a while about various things, then retired to the bedroom where Elli and I caught up on the internet and showered. I didn’t make it to bed until about 2am, so I had to watch all the annoying status updates about Harry Potter because everyone in America going out to see it.
Wimborne
Day 55: Wednesday
Same morning routine. Around 11 we finally figured out our plans for the day, packed our lunches, and head into town. We went to use the computers, but they were full, so we ran some errands buying stamps and random things we needed. We went back to the library and the computers were still full, but we had to print our tickets for the bus tomorrow, so we waited about a half hour. All of the sudden all of the computers opened up at once, and we were able to use them for the full half hour without feeling bad about people waiting. Gosh I can’t wait to get back to internet tomorrow. After I felt satisfied with my internet usage and my half hour was up, we decided it was time to head to the bus to go to Wimborne. We were hungry already by the time we got there, so we sat on a patch of grass in front of the minster and ate our packed lunches, sandwiches and salad as usual. Then we wandered around inside the minster for a bit until we discovered it had a chained library, so we had to check it out. We felt like we were in Harry Potter going to the restricted section as we wound up a spiral staircase into a library with super old books chained to the wall. One of the keepers told us a bit about the history of the library and chaining books, and of course she was interested in why two American girls were in their library and even interested. We immediately found the Works of Machiavelli, which she found surprising that we got so excited over, and we explained that we are political theory students who had just come from Italy where we were studying Machiavelli. She also told us that their copy of Raleigh’s History of the World had gotten a hole burnt through it by a candle and has since been repaired. It was disappointing that we couldn’t look through the books, but we were able to touch them. By this time, another lady came up to replace the other one, who informed her “These girls are students of political theory. They pounced on the Machiavelli.” We then had a talk with the other woman as well about the books and the history. When she asked about where we were from, she replied that she like Minnesota because Garrison Keiller, Bob Dylan, Prince, and F. Scott Fitzgerald were from there. I was quite surprised that she knew so much about it! After spending much longer than any normal sane person would in the chained library, we went back down the staircase and made our way toward the Wimborne model town. It is literally a model town of what it looked like in the 50s, and it was very cool. We tromped around it acting like little children and playing around with all the buildings and shops, then went inside and played with the trains, which were, of course, Thomas the Tank Engine. Then we wandered around the gift shop and got some tea before we headed out. We wandered around the town of Wimborne a bit more, found a candy shop and bought some sweets, grumbled at an Italian Restaurant as we walked by but amused ourselves by looking at the menu, and then it was time to catch the bus back to Broadstone. We decided to take the long walk home since we knew we needed to walk a little bit to be hungry enough for dinner, which was English breakfast, so we walked along a trail on the other side of the roundabout and came out somewhere in the neighborhood, and we just wandered until Elli knew where we were and we made it home just in time for dinner. I was so full, as usual, but it was so good. Dessert was plumb pie with custard again. After dinner we did the dishes and then set out for another walk to walk off the food baby we got from dinner. We walked back along the same trail we were on before, but kept going two miles all the way to Upton Country Park. We saw lots of English people out walking their dogs and getting exercise. We sat by the country house for a couple minutes before we decided to turn back and head home along the same path. It was about a four mile walk by the end of it, and I felt sufficiently exercised. We had some milk and talked with granny and granddad a bit when we got home, then did the usual without internet before bed. Tomorrow we leave Broadstone and go to London where we will have the internet back finally! But only for a couple days before we go to Dieulefit where the only internet will be from the café. I can’t believe I only have a week and a half left!
Corfe Castle
Day 54: Tuesday
After the usual morning routine, we packed our lunches and head out to the bus stop to go to Corfe Castle. We took the bus to Poole, then hopped on the bus to the castle. The ride was about 45 minutes, and we drove through adorable English towns and countryside. When we made it to the castle, we took the trail for the short walk up through the village to the castle. It is a ruined castle and no longer intact, but it is nevertheless cool to explore. We walked around the castle for a couple hours, took pictures, and finally decided to sit down and eat our lunch like proper English people. The castle had more children than I would prefer, and they were all the very energetic, running, screaming type of children. One little boy tried to eat a rock! I laughed forever about it. Still laughing. After our sufficient lunch, we wandered back down into the village. We checked out the church, then decided to go into a pub. When we finished we went to the sweet shop to get candy and postcards. The bus was going to come in about 20 minutes, and we didn’t really want to wait another whole hour for it, so we went back down the path to the bus stop to go home. The bus was about 10 minutes late, but we made it on. I slept on the way to Poole, and we had perfect timing to catch the bus to Broadstone because we didn’t have to wait at all. When we arrived home, granny was making dinner, and we had some tea, and shortly after dinner was served. The dumplings were absolutely delicious! I am always so stuffed after dinner, but dessert is always too delicious, and I have found I’m a big fan of custard. Dessert tonight was plumb pie with custard. After dinner, Elli and I showered and went back to work on our proposals. We have both decided that the course was virtually nonexistent, and the prompt is stupid and has nothing to do with what we actually learned. I would much rather write about art history and the things that Rocky told us in relation to the Florentine Histories instead of it related to the EU. I guess I’ll just have to see what Petrie says about my proposal. We have also been playing a lot of card games on our computer due to the lack of internet. I’m getting quite good at hearts! Only one more full day until we move again, and we plan on going to Wimborne tomorrow. I have been feverishly working away at trying to catch up on my blog and remember everything that happened during the two weeks I didn’t have a computer.
After the usual morning routine, we packed our lunches and head out to the bus stop to go to Corfe Castle. We took the bus to Poole, then hopped on the bus to the castle. The ride was about 45 minutes, and we drove through adorable English towns and countryside. When we made it to the castle, we took the trail for the short walk up through the village to the castle. It is a ruined castle and no longer intact, but it is nevertheless cool to explore. We walked around the castle for a couple hours, took pictures, and finally decided to sit down and eat our lunch like proper English people. The castle had more children than I would prefer, and they were all the very energetic, running, screaming type of children. One little boy tried to eat a rock! I laughed forever about it. Still laughing. After our sufficient lunch, we wandered back down into the village. We checked out the church, then decided to go into a pub. When we finished we went to the sweet shop to get candy and postcards. The bus was going to come in about 20 minutes, and we didn’t really want to wait another whole hour for it, so we went back down the path to the bus stop to go home. The bus was about 10 minutes late, but we made it on. I slept on the way to Poole, and we had perfect timing to catch the bus to Broadstone because we didn’t have to wait at all. When we arrived home, granny was making dinner, and we had some tea, and shortly after dinner was served. The dumplings were absolutely delicious! I am always so stuffed after dinner, but dessert is always too delicious, and I have found I’m a big fan of custard. Dessert tonight was plumb pie with custard. After dinner, Elli and I showered and went back to work on our proposals. We have both decided that the course was virtually nonexistent, and the prompt is stupid and has nothing to do with what we actually learned. I would much rather write about art history and the things that Rocky told us in relation to the Florentine Histories instead of it related to the EU. I guess I’ll just have to see what Petrie says about my proposal. We have also been playing a lot of card games on our computer due to the lack of internet. I’m getting quite good at hearts! Only one more full day until we move again, and we plan on going to Wimborne tomorrow. I have been feverishly working away at trying to catch up on my blog and remember everything that happened during the two weeks I didn’t have a computer.
Badbury Rings
Day 53: Monday
We tried to wake up early today, but we were surprisingly tired, so we didn’t get up until around 9:30am. Then we had toast for breakfast again and decided what to do for the rest of the day. We walked to the high street to use the internet at the libraries, but there was a line, so we walked around Broadstone to try to find postcards. We passed some people standing at the end of their driveway and they had a kitty, so I stopped to pet him. His name was George and they told me “he’s a big softy, that one.” Eventually we returned to the library and only had to wait a short while before a computer opened up. With only a half hour, I was franticly trying to fit everything in. I went through my notifications, and not much happened, and I read through my messages. I had just enough time to finish everything, and then I got off because people were waiting. It was just enough time to tease me but not allow me to be satisfied. Afterwards we grabbed a sausage roll and headed home where we helped make lunch. We had cheese sandwiches again and pate sandwiches with salad and yogurt. After lunch we wrote a couple postcards and got ready to head to Badbury rings. I had heard about them many times from Elli, so I was excited to finally see them. They date to pre-Roman times, and now it’s basically a ring of hills around some woods where a town used to be. They built the hills as a defense against their town to wear the enemy out climbing up and down all of the hills. Even thousands of years later, it would still be exhausting to run up and down them, so I was impressed. We walked around the rings twice, wandered through the middle, and took lots of pictures. The bugs were horrible though. After about an hour we went back home. I was exhausted and took a nap while Elli ran up to the post office. When I woke up it was time for dinner, which was essentially the same as yesterday, only with marrow. It was so much food and I struggled to get through it. Dessert was delicious, but I was too full to fully enjoy it. And then I was given more. I thought I was going to explode. After dinner I wrote a little bit of my proposal, which is an interesting endeavor without the internet. Then we watched a tv show about some detectives which was pretty funny, and planned out going to Corfe Castle tomorrow. I’m trying to finish my draft of my paper so I can work on revising it over the next couple days before I have to turn it in next time I have internet. Only two more days in Broadstone, and it’s on to London where I get to see KRISTAAAAA!!!
The Beach, English Style
Day 52: Sunday
We woke up early for church, had toast and tea for breakfast, and head out around 9. The church was small and the congregation was mostly old people, except a couple children and a 16-year old boy. The service was dedicated to the Republic of South Sudan since it’s its one year anniversary. After church we went to look at the chickens they have, and I decided chickens are a little cute. After we got home we had some tea while Elli showed her grandparents pictures from Rome. They were a bit overwhelmed, so we spared trying to show them the rest of our trip, and we began making lunch. We had cheese sandwiches and egg sandwiches, salad, apple, grapes, and yogurt. Afterward Elli and I decided to go out to the beach to see the sea, so we figured out the buses and were on our way. The contrast from my beach gear from two weeks ago to now is a perfect epitomization of the difference between Italy and England. To go to Cinque Terre, I brought sunscreen, a towel, a dress, and my bikini. To go to the Channel, I wore jeans, a cardigan, a sweatshirt, and a scarf. We got to ride on the top of a double-decker bus! The best part was when we would hit trees and it would make a loud noise on the top. Finally we arrived at the beach, and it wasn’t too windy and the sun was shining a little bit. There were ominous rain clouds in the other direction, but thankfully we never got rained on. We walked down to the water, rolled up our pants to stand in the sea, and took pictures. Then we just wandered down the beach for about an hour. I picked up some shells to bring home along the way, and we got ice cream when we decided to turn around. It had a kit kat in the middle, it was amazing! My feet were starting to hurt from walking in the sand and my muscles were getting sore by the time we made it back to the bus stop, and I was also so exhausted that I took a little nap sitting down waiting for the bus, which was a double decker again. We had a half hour wait in Poole for the bus to Broadstone, so we went to a grocery store and got some chips, but they kicked us out as they were closing. The bus was supposed to arrive within 10 minutes, however, it was 25 minutes late. As soon as the bus arrived it was evident as to why it was so late. The bus driver was excruciatingly slow and took forever to get everyone on, and a bunch of people only had big bills and he couldn’t make change. Finally we were on our way, and when the bus dropped us off we walked as fast as we could because we were late for dinner and thought granny and granddad would be worried. Dinner was roast chicken, carrots, beans, bacon, and potatoes. I ate through my veggies so I could enjoy the rest of my meal, only to be given more veggies. Oh well, I was full. And the potatoes were delicious. Dessert was loganberries. After dinner I showered and then we sat down to watch the Kite Runner together. It is impossible not to get emotional during that movie, and I choked up a couple times. After the movie I was tired and very ready for bed. We plan on going to the library in the morning to use the internet, but other than that I don’t know what our plans are.
Welcome to Broadstone
Day 51: Saturday
Woke up for English breakfast, minus the sausage, then we had to finish packing and getting everything together to be out of the house by 11. I tried to quickly finish Pride and Prejudice, but I still had about 30 pages left. Oh well, it’s not like I don’t know how it ends. We somehow got all of our American sized luggage into the English sized cars and pulled away from our English cottage right on time at 11. We had time before the ferry, so we went back to the Osborne house to walk around the walled garden and have some tea. We had to wait in line for the ferry for about an hour, and the ferry was also about an hour, but I just sat and listened to Taylor Swift and read Thomas Paine. Then Elli’s parents dropped us off at the National Express station, made sure we got our tickets for Poole, and said goodbye. Elli and I both wanted McDonald’s but didn’t want to drag all of our stuff, so I ran down to get us food and came back with just enough time for us to stuff our faces before our bus arrived. The bus ride was only about an hour and the English countryside was beautiful. Then we waited for a short time for our bus to Broadstone, and then another short bus ride and we were there. I met Elli’s grandparents as they loaded the car with our huge suitcases, and then we walked to their house because we wouldn’t fit in the car, and Elli wanted to show me around. We walked through downtown Broadstone, and then through the woods in her granny’s neighborhood. When we arrived, we got settled and I got a tour, and we sat around talking a bit until dinner was ready. I survived my first dinner of steamed cabbage and shepherd’s pie, which had cooked carrots in them, and I ate ALL of it. And we also had delicious dessert, then we showered and settled in some more, then we head out for a walk through the heath. It was beautiful! It reminded me of English movies where people wander through the country side, and I literally felt like Elizabeth Bennett out for a country walk. We watched the sunset and there were other people out walking their dogs, and finally we wandered until we found the neighborhood roads, but Elli got lost and didn’t know where we were, so we turned around and went back through the heath and by the time we got back it was dark. It was decided that we are going to church in the morning...my favorite. I have a feeling I’ll be going to bed early tonight since it’s only 10:30 and I’m already tired and there’s no facebook to keep me up until 2am.
Last Day in Isle of Wight
Day 50: Friday
Last full day on the Isle of Wight because tomorrow we move to Poole to Elli’s grandparent’s where internet usage will be sparse because I’ll have to go to the library for it. I slept in until about 11am, read Pride and Prejudice for a bit, went downstairs for tea, and Elli was figuring out our travel plans for getting to Poole and to London and to France. I looked up hostels in Paris, but didn’t find anything promising. Finally we decided to go up to the co-op to get mayo so we could make egg sandwiches for breakfast/lunch. When we got back, we made the sandwiches and ate while we watched a bit of the Tour de France. I found out I’m going to be in Paris during the finish! I also found a hostel that I liked, and accidentally booked it for 5 nights instead of 3, but oh well, I can always change it. Then Elli and I decided to walk to Newport to get postcards. It is a short walk along adorable very English roads, and we wandered around the town for a while until we found a little candy shop that had some postcards. Then we wandered around Newport for a while, and it was very English and very adorable. We decided to go into a card shop and spent a lot of time looking at funny cards, and I bought one for my parents’ anniversary because it says “mum and dad” on it. We also found a grocery store called Iceland, so we went in just for shits and giggles. Then we finally decided to walk back toward Carisbrooke, but we stopped to have a look at Carisbrooke church and wander around the graveyard before we made it home. We sat around the house for a while before dinner, which was potatoes and burgers and leftover cauliflower cheese. After dinner I went down to the Eight Bells pub with Elli and her parents and I had a Strongbow cider. Then we finished packing and I talked to Jordan, Mike, and Krista on facebook until 3 in the morning. Finally I decided I needed to go to bed because I had to get up in 4-5 hours.
Osborne House
Day 49: Thursday
Today I actually woke up early because we were going to the famous Osborne house, the home of Queen Victoria after the death of her husband, Prince Albert. It is a very English thing to do, to wander around a country house, then go to the tearoom for lunch. The house was impressive and had a lot of cool pieces of history, most particularly a family tree which showed how basically every monarchy in Europe stemmed from Victoria’s family. Then Elli and her mother left because Elli had a horseback riding appointment, and me, Nick, Victoria, and Charles wandered around the grounds for a little bit longer, then drove home. Tea and hanging around until dinner, which Elli made and I attempted to help. I grated an entire block of cheese! We had cauliflower cheese, which was pretty good for it being mushy veggies. We had some champagne with dinner! After dinner, we decided to try to fix my computer, and since I’ve been insisting all along that it’s only the battery, we tried plugging it in into Elli’s charger, and lo and behold….computer resurrection! I was so happy to have a function computer again. YAAAAAY!!!! After much rejoicing in the return of my computer, it was time for bed.
Carisbrooke Castle
Day 48: Wednesday
Slept in again, then toast and tea for breakfast. Since the rain seemed to be holding off, we decided to walk up to Carisbrooke Castle to explore. It was my first real castle, but it wasn’t intact anymore, so it was more like wandering around the ruins of Rome or Pompeii. I loved the view of the English countryside from the wall and the keep, and we got a demonstration of how the donkey lifted the water out of the well, which was pretty entertaining. After sufficiently exploring the castle, we headed home for lunch, which was sandwiches. After lunched we watched a little of the Tour de France, then headed out to the Needles. It was very windy but the cliffs were very beautiful and very awesome. Afterwards, we went home and had pasta (groooooowl) for dinner. After spending 6 weeks eating nothing but, I feel as though I will never want to eat pasta or pizza or even gelato ever again. After dinner we finished Lost in Austen, then bed.
English Life
Day 47: Tuesday
I woke up surprisingly early, but I didn’t actually get up until around noon. It was nice to finally be able to relax and sleep. When we finally did get up, it was time for English breakfast! Finally! Beans and toast and eggs, so delicious! Nomnomnom. After breakfast it began to rain, so we hung out in the cottage the rest of the day. Gladly, we had internet. The Bell family taught me how to dip things in my tea, but I dropped my first digestive in :( For dinner we went down to the pub, and I had a jacket potato with cheese and beans, but it was way too big for me to finish. After dinner we went for a walk around Carisbrooke, and they showed me a ford, which to me seemed to be just a flooded road that cards drive over. After the walk, we started Lost in Austen, then it was time for bed.
Trains, Planes, and Automobiles (and Ferries)
Day 46: Monday
I spent my 4th of July in transit between Florence and the Isle of Wight. We woke up around 7:30am, packed our remaining stuff up, ate breakfast, and got the apartment ready. We realized around 8:20 that our train was leaving in 20 minutes, so we rushed out the door with our garbage. We didn’t know what to do with our trash, so we just left it on the street, figuring someone would pick it up if it was sitting outside Gucci. We rushed to the train but luckily we made it, Florence being so small and the station so close. My suitcase and the cobblestone roads, however, are not friends. We made it to Rome just fine, then discovered there was a train to the airport, so we decided to do that instead of Taxi. It was only 10:30, and the airport train left at 10:52, but we discovered that it was the longest walk ever to the train, and we barely made it on. And of course there was no room for our bags. When we arrived at the airport, we split up to check into our flights since Elli flew Alitalia and I flew BA, then we met up again to go through security since our gates were right next to each other. We got some food on the other side of security, and I suffered through eating my last shitty Italian sandwich. Then it was time to split up, so Elli went to her gate and I went to mine, and I didn’t have to wait long to board. There was a huge group of really obnoxious American kids on my flight, and I was greatly annoyed. I was able to fall asleep on the plane though. When I arrived in Heathrow, I was supposed to make my way to the bus station and wait for the bus to Southampton where I would meet up with Elli. I had a bit of trouble through customs, however, because I didn’t know the address of where I was going, and the UK government seemed to have a problem with that. The customs lady thought it was suspicious that Elli and I were arriving on different flights from the same place, so I had to spend 20 minutes explaining the entire situation, and finally she let me through. I found my bus station, then realized I was an hour early because my clock hadn’t been adjusted to the time zone yet, so I went inside for a Krispy Kreme because it was the only place I could find and I was hungry. Finally it was time to board the coach, and I was relieved to find Elli on it. The bus ride started off a bit exciting with Elli and I waving at all the truck drivers going by us and making friends. Then it settled down and we both started coughing horribly, but we had run out of water, so everyone kept giving us nasty looks. Oh well. We arrived in Southampton to find that the shuttle to the ferry did not exist, so we decided to walk. We stopped at McDonald’s on the way and were served by the cutest and adorablest little English man ever. The McDonald’s was right next to a TGI Friday’s, and it killed me so much to be so close to boneless wings without being able to eat them. After our fill of food, we began to make our way to the pier, having no clue where we were going and with our huge bags. We did manage to find it, however, but we bought tickets for the wrong ferry. We were confused for a short time before we found the correct place, then bought tickets again. We waited for the ferry, then it was a short 25 minute ride to the Isle of Wight where Elli’s parents greeted us and took us to the cottage. After a 15-hour travel day, I was very glad to finally arrive. It was the cutest little thatched-roof cottage ever, with a cute little garden and our room was in the attic. Elli’s parents served us tea, and we sat around a bit before showering and going to bed. I got to read a little of Pride and Prejudice before bed in the attic of the cottage. It was just too perfect.
Last Day in Florence
Day 45: Sunday
Elli made English breakfast again, which was delicious. After breakfast I started packing up all my shit (again) and cleaning the apartment. Kari and I went out to run some last minute errands, which for the life of me I can’t remember. Then I know we ate my last box of mac and cheese, but after that I can’t remember what I did for the day. I do know that Elli, Kari, and I jammed one last time while we made dinner, then Mike joined us to go to our favorite gelateria with the cute man, but it was closed, so we went to the other one by piazza republica. Then we went over to the Old Stove, of course, and later Alex joined us, and the final five had one last get together before the send off. Then we had to say goodbye to Kari L When we got home, we had to face cleaning the entire apartment, which we accomplished quite quickly. Glad of that being over, I went over to the boys’ to say goodbye to Mike and Alex, then I went to bed, ready to face the day of travel ahead of me the next day.
Friday, July 15
Pisa
Day 43: Friday
Pisa with Elli, Brandon, Joe, and Dylan. It was nice to be back to hanging out with the gang like we had in Rome. It was about an hour to Pisa, and when we arrived we walked all the way across town to the Duomo, where we found that, in fact, the tower is very much leaning. We spent a good long time taking a lot of silly ridiculous touristy photos, and then decided we would like to go inside the Duomo. It was pretty standard inside, but they were playing music and it was beautiful, so we stood for a while listening. The boys also went inside the bapistry, but Elli and I didn’t because we didn’t want to pay. Finally we made our way back to the train station, grabbing ice cream on the way, and Elli and I decided we didn’t want to deal with the headache of going to Carrara and trying to figure out how to see the mountains. We thought we wouldn’t have enough time since we had to be back by 7 for our end of trip party, which we deemed it safe to call “academic wrap up.” Joe, Dylan, and Brandon, however, went on to Carrara. After a freezing ride home, we made it back in time to eat dinner and shower before it was time to go across the hall to the boys’ where the party was supposed to be. No one was there yet, except the people who live there, but we started hanging out anyway. People started showing up shortly. Petrie showed up but apologized for his wife not being there since there was some trouble back home with their daughter. The party was fun, and everyone went around conversing with everyone else about random things, and sadly we eventually all had to sy our goodbyes. I can't wait to hangout with everyone again when we get back to the EL. It's an absolute must!
The Last Old Stove
Day 42: Thursday
As we quickly realized our time in Florence would soon be over, we decided to kill the last thing on our bucket list: the Pitti Palace, home of the Medici. Elli, Kari, and I set out in the morning since we didn’t have class until the afternoon, and spent the whole day exploring the palace and the grounds. Our passes given to us by Accent got us in for free, but we were most interested in seeing the costume museum. It was a confusing place, however, and we got stuck looking at all the rooms of the palace, and then couldn’t find our way out of the modern art museum. No one cares about modern art. Finally we found the costume museum, which was really cool because it had a bunch of dresses from mostly the 1900s, but a couple from earlier. I continuously found that I liked the ones from the 1920s and 1940s the best, but there were a couple from the 1990s that were very beautiful as well. We gave up on trying to find the museum that had a bunch of Medici artifacts and decided to venture out into the grounds despite the heat. It was very beautiful, and there was a fantastic view of the city. I did not enjoy the giant fish pond with all the giant fishies, and I even screamed when I was standing by it and one jumped. People stared. We wandered around for a little bit before we got too hot and decided we needed to get some lunch before class anyway. Luckily the Pitti Palace is just up the road from Accent, so we went to the café with the delicious penne for lunch. It was so cheap and very filling and delicious. After lunch it was time for our last class. We began class with our Accent evaluations in which I was finally able to bitch about how unhelpful they always were. I did sing my praises loudly for connecting us with Rocky however. After those, we did our class evaluations for Petrie. Petrie had come in very late explaining something about having to move again and something about his wife, and promptly left again, saying he would be back in twenty minutes. Everyone sat around after they finished their evaluations, and we listened to music, threw pennies, looked at pictures online of kitties, and Mike and Breanne had an intense staring competition, which Mike won. When Petrie finally did come back, he sent us outside for another twenty minute break. By this time, there was less than half of our class time left, and I pretty much accepted that our last day of class was on Tuesday, since this was no class. He did ramble about some stuff during the last half hour, but pretty much no one was listening. Kari and Elli informed me after class that they had been playing MASH and that I had been lucky enough to marry David. On our final walk home it FINALLY starting to rain, and it was very welcoming. While all the Italians ran for cover, Elli and I stood in the middle of the street with our arms open wide and begged the sky to pour on us. It barely sprinkled, however, and that was disappointing. When we got home I made Mike go to the train station with me so I could buy my ticket to go to Pisa tomorrow. Then I did the usual housekeeping of dinner and dishes and shower and whatnot. Since this was the last night everyone was all together, we all decided to go out for a pub crawl for one last shebang, but we never made it beyond the Old Stove. It was me, Elli, Kari, Breanne, Sarah, Kelly, Mike, David, Alex, Brian, Chris, Don, and Andrew. After a while everyone else had left except me and Mike and David, and we had a good time chatting and hanging out before we decided it was time to go home.
Siena and San Gimignano
Day 41: Wednesday
Class field trip to Siena and San Gimignano. I woke up early to go to the train station early to get McDonald’s breakfast with Mike. The bus ride was about an hour long, and I ate my breakfast, listened to my music, and looked out the window at the beautiful Tuscany view. Our bus pulled in and we had to walk into town and find the church of San Dominico, which was easy enough for us to manage. We waited for a short while for our tour guide, then went inside for our tour. Apparently this church houses the finger and the head of Saint Catherine. Our tour guide blabbered on about Saint Catherine while I amused myself by thinking about how people will believe anything. She also told us that it was custom practice in those days to chop up the saints and share the body parts around churches. After that tour, we made our way farther into town where we encountered a celebration underway. Siena is split into seventeen neighborhoods, and every year around this time they have a horse race between all the neighborhoods. The race is on Saturday, but the celebrations were already underway, and neighborhood spirit was everywhere. We first encountered the goose district where we saw a bunch of children dressed in green running around. Everyone had green scarves on as well, and the goose flag was everywhere. Our tour guide told us they really don’t like tourists and to not interfere too much. As we made our way through the goose neighborhood and into the rhino neighborhood, our tour guide blabbered on more about random things, but all I could pay attention to was her unshaven and super hairy armpits. It was impossible not to look after you noticed. Then we had our tour of the Duomo of Siena, which had a lot of fancy floor tiles, but the thing I found the most interesting was the Bernini sculpture. I miss seeing his work everywhere like in Rome, and it was nice to look at it and know that it was unmistakably Bernini. After the tour of the Duomo we walked down to the town center, and it was very crowded in preparation for the race on Saturday, since that is where it will occur. She told us some information about it, but I was too far away to hear, and it was too hot for me to care. All I remember is standing there sweating like crazy and being the most hot I can remember being. It was horrible. Finally we were released to have lunch, and we were told to meet back at the bus at a certain time. We all set off basically in the same direction out of the crowds and back toward some restaurants we saw earlier. Me, Mike, Don, Chris, Breanne, and Sarah ended up at some place where I mistakenly ordered something I really did not like. It had a ton of onions or something (some vegetable I could not identify), and so I was still hungry after lunch. We all made it back to the bus in time to head out to San Gimignano, which we renamed Saint Jimmy John’s because we had no idea how to pronounce it. This town, strongly medieval, used to have 76 towers built by the influential families in the town, but only 14 remain. We were told by Petrie to run around for a bit and meet back at the bus station at a certain time. Everyone set out in different directions. After Mike and I wandered around the town for a little bit, us and Kari, David, and Joe decided to go to the torture museum. It was very interesting, but it made various parts of my body hurt while reading all the signs to learn how they used each of the devices. I spent most of the time cringing and make painful noises. It reminded me of Adam Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments because he observes how we feel pain even when it’s not real by imagining ourselves in that situation. After enough visual torture, we made our way back toward the bus stop to find mostly everyone already there. We got on the bus to head back to Florence, and it was already around 5. I slept most of the way back. Before we went home Mike and I bought our tickets to go to Cinque Terre at the station, then went home for dinner, and spent the rest of the night hanging out.
Santa Croce
Day 40: Tuesday
I don't remember class this day because my notes started to slack and we honestly didn't ever talk about anything. After class we had ramen for lunch, then Elli and I met up with Kari for a day of sightseeing Florence. First we went to the bapistry, which Elli and I hadn’t been inside of yet, and Kari waited for us outside. It has a huge 19 foot Jesus, stories from the lives of Adam and Eve, John the Baptist, and Jesus, as well as a giant devil eating damned souls, shitting them out, and eating them again. After the bapistry, we made our way to Santa Croce, ashamed that it has taken us this long to pay homage to Machiavelli. Buried in Santa Croce is also Michelangelo, Galileo, and Leon Battista Alberti (who our apartment is named after). There is also a monument to Dante which many people think is his tomb, but we knew, thanks to Rocky, that Dante was banished from Florence and his body never returned. It was funny when we got to Michelangelo’s tomb and I didn’t know who it was because I was looking at the last name of Bonarotio, and I realized I never even knew Michelangelo had a last name. Machiavelli’s was much smaller and unimpressive than I think he deserves, but that may be my PTCD bias. The man is, after all, a goddamn genius, and I believe he knew perfectly well the intricacies of human nature. After we left Santa Croce, we followed Elli around as she searched for a new white leather belt. We were exhausted when we got home and siestaed until 7 when we realized we had to get up to go buy milk before the grocery store closed. After dinner Elli and I went to the gelato place toward Kari’s with the cute gelato man with David. We hung out with him and Kari and Kelly who came over to get some laundry soap for a bit, and then I can’t remember what I did that night.
Shopping in San Lorenzo
Day 39: Monday
Class wasn’t until noon, so I got to sleep in. We had a pop quiz sort of essay during class about Cosimo de Medici. I got to use Accent’s computers a little during the break, until a class kicked me out. I was able to use them for a bit after class though, and after I walked home to get ready to meet Kari and Elli for shopping. I somehow managed to find them in the market by San Lorenzo. Since my money still hadn’t been transferred to my account, I couldn’t do my real shopping, but I did buy some gifts (can't spoil it!), and our bottle opener magnet for our fridge next year, and a keychain. I wasn’t feeling well still, so I went home to nap. Elli, Breanne, and Sarah went over to Kari’s for dinner, which was stirfry, so I passed. Instead I made myself some spiral mac and cheese, and chatted with Mike while we ate dinner. He let me use his computer again after dinner while we hung out for the night.
Class wasn’t until noon, so I got to sleep in. We had a pop quiz sort of essay during class about Cosimo de Medici. I got to use Accent’s computers a little during the break, until a class kicked me out. I was able to use them for a bit after class though, and after I walked home to get ready to meet Kari and Elli for shopping. I somehow managed to find them in the market by San Lorenzo. Since my money still hadn’t been transferred to my account, I couldn’t do my real shopping, but I did buy some gifts (can't spoil it!), and our bottle opener magnet for our fridge next year, and a keychain. I wasn’t feeling well still, so I went home to nap. Elli, Breanne, and Sarah went over to Kari’s for dinner, which was stirfry, so I passed. Instead I made myself some spiral mac and cheese, and chatted with Mike while we ate dinner. He let me use his computer again after dinner while we hung out for the night.
Cinque Terre Day 2
Day 38: Sunday
Woke up around 7 to hear church bells ringing continuously for at least a half hour, then fell back to sleep for about an hour. We got ready to leave, and grabbed some breakfast at a little café on the way. I got an egg sandwich and a pastry, and Elli got a take-away omlette. We bought our passes for the train and the trails, and began making our way down Via Dell’Amore toward Manarola. We continued along the path until we arrived in Manarola, which was almost the same as Riomaggiore, with the hills, stairs, cliffs, and marina. We walked around the town and saw the vertical vineyards, found a piazza with a great view and a church, and then made our way down to the marina. We arrived just in time to see a couple girls trying to jump off a huge rock into the water. We were convinced we were about to watch them jump to their death, so we kept moving. We heard the splash of one jump, and the other one chickened out and never jumped. Stupid girls. The water in the marina looked so perfectly inviting, but it was not time for us to swim yet, so we pressed on. We found a path along the cliffs that we decided to walk along, getting a view of the other villages, and we saw some people swimming in the bay. We decided it was probably about time to move on, however, and we hopped on the train to Corniglia. We were greeted at the train station by a huge cliff with endless stairs to the top. We were dismayed, but we nevertheless began the climb up. 382 stairs later, we were in the town of Corniglia. It was much like the first two, only much higher up, and it seemed the most lived in out of all the villages. We walked around, saw a view of the beach but didn’t feeling like climbing down only to have to climb back up, got some ice cream, pet a kitty (I did, not Elli), and then had to head back down to catch the next train. The next town is Vernazza. It was much more touristy than the other villages, and when we arrived at the marina, it was packed with people. We decided to get some lunch, so we went to a place back by the train station and got some pesto, since the region is famous for it. Our waiter was super adorable and I liked him. After lunch we wandered through the village, found a place with a view to take a picture, then wandered back down to the marina and sat with our feet in the water for about a half hour. I even let the little fishies get close to my feet! We walked back to the train station and bought some postcards on the way. There was a kitty sitting in a box in the place we bought the postcards from, so I got to pet him! Finally we hopped on the train to head toward Monterosso, the final village. We stayed in Monterosso for a total of 30 minutes. It was awful. This is the only village with an actual beach with sand, but the entire stretch of beach was entirely PACKED with people and umbrellas. It reminded me of Waikiki beach. We tried to wander around the town, but there was literally nothing, so we decided to get back on the train and go to Manarola to where we saw the people swimming earlier. We were so hot and so ready for a swim by the time we found a place to put our stuff down and change. The place we decided on was amazing. We were swimming literally underneath sheer cliffs. There were caves in the water as well. The water was so refreshing, and we swam for quite some time before we finally got out to put sunscreen on. We took pictures of ourselves swimming from the path above, and we look like tiny little white specks in the ocean. We laid in our spot for as long as our time allowed, and I fell asleep for a bit. It was soooo hot. I got changed back into my clothes while Elli went for one last swim, and we reluctantly packed up our stuff to head back to the train station to go home. I grabbed a hot dog on my way to the station, then we waited for the train to La Spezia, then grabbed some fries from McDonald’s when we got there while we waited for the train back to Florence. I slept and read on the way home, and finally we made it home. It was so nice to return to somewhere familiar. It was nice, however, until I returned home to find my computer non-functional. It simply would just not turn on. It said it didn’t recognize the adapter, and I tried to run a diagnosis but it didn’t find anything. In addition to finding a dead computer, I developed a sore throat on the train ride home and was starting to feel sick again after being better for about a week. I felt absolutely horrible about everything, especially after such a perfect weekend. I showered, made food, told everyone about our weekend, and showed Mike and David my pictures, and Mike was nice and let me use his computer.
Cinque Terre Day 1
Day 37: Saturday
Elli made English breakfast aka beans, fried eggs, and chips (aka fries) and it was dericious nomnomnom. We realized we did not have a lot of time and had to rush to do our dishes and make the train. We made it though, and we settled in for the two hour ride. We arrived in La Spezia Centrale, waited in line to buy our tickets to Riomaggiore, and waited a couple minutes for the train. The ride was only about five minutes, and as we went along, we could see little flashes of ocean through the window. Finally, we arrived. The stop was in a tunnel, and as soon as we stepped out we saw a beautiful view of the sea. Elli and I just laughed at how ridiculously amazing our weekend was about to be. We filled our water bottles, and I tried to take some money out of the ATM, only to realize that I was out of money in that account, so I would have to survive the weekend on the 50 euro that I had. Then we walked through a tunnel toward the center of town. On the other side we were greeted by a gigantic hill which we had to climb up to find the office of our hostel to check in. We finally made it up the hill, swiftly realizing that anyone who lives in Cinque Terre is obviously fit. The woman in the office told us our rooms aren’t ready yet and to go hang out by the beach and come back at 7. We did just that. We walked down toward the marina, saw some cute little boats and a beautiful view of the town, then walked along the path by the rocks until we found the “beach.” It was very much a beach European style, and most Americans would’ve complained. It was all rocks, no sand. It was already pretty crowded, and the rocks were very hot, and I stupidly forgot my towel. We found a spot, and immediately changed and ran into the water. It was too hot to wait. Getting in was a bit difficult because the waves come in and push you against the rocks, so I just started swimming as soon as I could to avoid being pushed over and getting a face full of salt water again. We swam around enjoying ourselves beyond belief for a bit, until we decided we should probably go back and put sunscreen on. Getting back to the shore was also a huge struggle, and I’m sure all the Europeans were judging the clumsy American girls. After about 10 minutes of trying to figure out how to open the sunscreen, we gave up and just took the entire top off. We applied our sunscreen, opened our Bacardi Breezers, and laid out to enjoy the sun. We couldn’t enjoy it for very long, however, before we got too hot to bare it and had to go back in the water. We floated around in the water a bit more until we decided it was about time to head back to our hostel office to get checked into our room. When we got there, we were led by a man to another man, who then led us through an alley, up some stairs, and into our rooms. He showed us our sleeping arrangements and quickly explained the bathroom and a few rules. When we asked whether or not we needed keys he responded, “No keys, the five lands are safe.” We felt nasty from all the salt water, so we decided to rinse off quickly before going to find dinner. The shower was better than the one we have in Florence because it actually had water pressure and it was actually hot. It felt very nice. We met a couple of our roommates after our showers, Alice from Australia and Russell from California. Then we wandered down the big hill street to a place to eat, and it was actually very nice. Our waiter was extremely attractive, and I had delicious panna cotta for dessert. People around us were eating fish, which is understandable in a sea side village, but they all had the heads and eyes and it was too scary for me! After dinner we wandered around Riomaggiore a bit more. We arrived at the marina just in time to see the sunset over the mountains, and it was honestly one of the most perfect moments of the entire trip. After that beautiful view, we decided to try to find how to get to the clock tower, so we simply climbed every flight of stairs we encountered, climbing higher and higher until we finally found it. Then we went back home to grab our bottle of wine to enjoy sitting by the water, and we found a spot on the rocks and drank our wine as we chatted about random things. After drinking half a bottle of wine, we wanted to see the stars, so we wandered further down the path where it was darker so we could get a good look. Finally we were exhausted and ready for bed, so we returned home. There were two rooms. Elli, Russell, Alice, and three other girls were in one room, although they were short one bed, and me and a French couple were in the other room.
Michelangelo's David
Day 36: Friday
I woke up at 5am to go watch the sunrise to make up for the time I missed out. Elli and I walked back to Piazzale Michelangelo, and made it just in time to see the sun rising through the clouds. Since it was cloudy it wasn’t the best sunrise, but it was still an amazing view of the city and mountains, and much better with no people around. We were tired, however, and decided to go back home where I got to sleep for two hours before we got up to go watch the parade for the celebration of San Giovanni, a local holiday, which is why we didn’t have class. We went over to the boys’ to wait for Petrie, and then him, us, Mike, David, Andrew, and Alex set out to see if we could find the parade. Accent had told us it was by Santa Maria Novella, but Joe, Brandon, and Dylan were over there and said nothing was going on, so we decided to look near the Duomo. It was busy, but there definitely was no parade. We finally gave up, and went with Mike and David and Alex to get their tickets for the death match later in the day. I was still tired, so after lunch (spiral mac and cheese again yaaay) I took another nap. Then I woke up and was excited because it was our tour with Rocky at the academia! It took a while to get inside, but when we did, we spent an hour standing in front of David while Rocky poured his endless knowledge on us. We learned that the marble used to make David was 17 feet tall and quarried from nearby Carrarra mountains, although how they got a several ton block of marble back from there in those days is beyond my comprehension. We also learned that the commission for the statue was passed before Michelangelo was born, and that it was used by two other sculptors before he even got his hands on it. We also learned that David was struck by lightning long ago when he lived in front of Palazzo Vecchio, and now his ankle is weak so they had to wrap tape around it to make sure he doesn’t fall over. I also didn’t know that at some point his arm had fallen off, and Vasari claims he helped reattach it. We also analyzed the political implications of Michelanglo’s David, him being obviously much older than 14, and also discussed the debate of whether it captures the moment of before or after David fought Goliath. Rocky may have some influence on my opinion, but I think even without him giving us his opinion I still would’ve thought that it was before. Then we moved to look at the slaves, which are unfinished sculptures that were supposed to be for Pope Julius’s tomb, but Michelangelo never finished because he was constantly being called away for other projects and the political powers were constantly shifting. We spent a little while longer wandering through the rest of the museum, but there was nothing else worth noting, since the museum was built to house David anyway. Elli and I went out to eat at a place between my apartment and my parent’s hotel, and then we went back and got ready for the fireworks. It was already super crowded by the river, and we couldn’t really see, but Mike and I found a spot where we could see at least a little bit, so we were satisfied. The display was impressively long, about 45 minutes, but all fireworks displays are always pretty much the same. I’m sure it would’ve been much better up close. It felt sort of like our 4th of July, it being so close, and seeing those fireworks far and away more than made up for missing out on the 4th. No one else really wanted to go out except for me, Elli, Kari, and Mike, so we decided to go over to the Old Stove by the Palazzo Vecchio instead of the one by the Duomo we always go to. David promised to meet us later, but he was too sick. We had a good time sitting in the basement and hanging out, then went home.
The Return of our Stove
Day 35: Thursday
We had more group presentations in class, which I did a pretty good job of paying attention to, and then we had our last lecture from Rocky! He talked more about Florentine art, and of course everything he said inspired us to go see the pieces he talked about. A group of us also decided we wanted to pay extra for him to take us to see the David and lecture us on it, and Petrie got it all arranged with Accent. After class we came home to a fixed sink and a “fixed” stove aka one working burner. But it was very welcoming because we were finally able to cook in our own apartment, even if we could only use one burner. That also meant we could finally do our nasty dishes! Elli and I then decided to go to Orsanmichele because Rocky had told us it was open for free all week, and it had the replica statue of the Dante one we saw in the Bargello. We found that the museum was closed, but we went inside the church. Then we went to Santa Maria Novella near the train station because Rocky had showed us a famous work of art, the Holy Trinity, which is there. There were also a lot of other great works of art, and the church had helpful plaques everywhere, which is surprisingly a rare thing. We spent quite a bit of time inside, saw some Medici stuff, of course, and then went to the grocery store after we got home. We finally found one closer than the Esselunga, which was right off Ponte Vecchio. It was much easier to get our groceries and carry them home. We had been wanting to go see the vespers, at the suggestion, not of Rocky for once, but of Freya. So we climbed up Piazzale Michelangelo, which was quite the workout, but completely worth the view, and head over to San Miniato al Monte just in time for the vespers. The service is monks singing the entire time, and we didn’t want to stay for the entire thing, so we hung back, listened, admired the church, and frowned upon the tourists taking pictures and walking around loudly. After we felt we had stayed a sufficient amount of time, we walked back down to Piazzale Michelangelo to take a bunch of touristy photos. The walk back down was much easier, but in the Florentine heat, anything is exerting and exhausting, and I was glad to get home. We made dinner ON OUR STOVE, which was packaged chicken cordon bleu and mashed potatoes. We had an excessive amount of mashed potatoes so I brought some over to Mike and David. Then we were finally able to do our week’s worth of nasty dishes, but we had to boil water for it because our water still will not run hot enough for long enough to get any dishes done. That took quite some time, but it was so nice to finally have it done. Then we watched a video someone had found of Rocky on the History Channel! Then some people decided to go out, and Elli, Mike, and I left to meet up with Kari, Breanne, and Andrew at the Red Garter.
I'm back!
Day 34: Wednesday
I'm doing my best to remember what happened from memory, and I'm aware that these posts are long and no one is going to read them.
We failed at waking up to go see the sunrise, and instead I woke up around 11am. We had to get ready for class though, unfortunately, because we had the EU guest lecturer again, and I paid attention even less than last time. I don’t remember anything about his lecture. During break I went to the café down the street and got delicious penne pasta for only 4 euro. Then we were supposed to have three group presentations on EU articles we were supposed to read, but we only got through one, and Petrie held us over 20 minutes having discussion. I was so pissed. For the rest of the day I sat around and tried to read and write until dinner time. After dinner I went out to Old Stove with Mike to meet up with Breanne, Sarah, Don, Andrew, Chris, and Chris’s girlfriend Paige who was visiting after just finishing her study abroad. They got into a discussion about politics and started being all Republican, and Mike and I just exchanged looks from across the table. Eventually everyone else except me and Mike and Chris, but Elli joined us. Chris didn’t stay long though, and we didn’t stay long after. The three of us walked around the bapistry because I hadn’t seen the Gates of Paradise up close yet, and then we walked back, and I got to talk to Jordan before bed.
Saturday, July 9
Update
My computer is still functioning, but unfortunately it started working again just in time for me to be going to Elli's grandparents' where I won't have internet access. I wish I could start posting again to catch up on all that I've done, but without the internet I won't be able to. The whole week without it, however, will give me time to collect my thoughts and try to remember what has happened over the past two weeks, and also to write my paper, and I should hopefully be prepared to begin posting when I move to London on the 14th. Sorry about the further delay and, until then, I'm out.
PS yesterday I booked my hostel in Paris and I found out I'm going to be there during the finish of the Tour de France and I'm super excited!
PS yesterday I booked my hostel in Paris and I found out I'm going to be there during the finish of the Tour de France and I'm super excited!
Thursday, July 7
COMPUTER
Great news! My computer is miraculously up and running again, so I will try to be catching up on my last two weeks soon!
Thursday, June 30
Elli's Blog
If you still want to know what I've been up to, I'm usually with Elli, so you can read her blog and get the gist of what I've been doing:
http://lainitalia.blogspot.com/
http://lainitalia.blogspot.com/
Monday, June 27
Bad News
Well sorry my blog died for a while, but I was really busy last week, then I left for the weekend, and when I came home my computer wouldn't turn on, so I will be without a computer for the rest of the trip and will have to mooch off of Elli's whenever I can. So I can't promise my blog is going to be updated anymore. I only have a week left in Italy and then I'm going to England, just so everyone knows where I am. Goodbye for now!
Wednesday, June 22
Shwolf Pack 2011!
Day 33: Tuesday
We woke up and headed over to David in front of Palazzo Vecchio to meet with Rocky for another tour. We sat outside in the Loggia della Signoria for about a half hour while he explained to us the history of Palazzo Vecchio and the Piazza della Signoria. Then we walked over to the sculptures and he told us the history of those. At first the Signoria did not put out sculptures because they were worried about vandalism and the political message it sends. Finally, they put out a lion with a shield with the symbol of Florence on it. A while later, they put out a sculpture done by Donatello of Judith. After, the beloved symbol of republicanism, David, went in the square, but shortly after the Medicis took over and the sculptures became more political and more hated. There is one of Hercules which was given by one of the Medici popes as a message to obey the Medici ruler of Florence. Then, the Neptune fountain appeared. People disrespected it so much they washed their clothes, watered their horses, and pissed in it. After getting a history lesson of the political regimes of Florence through the sculptures outside Palazzo Vecchio, we walked over to the Bargello to see more sculptures. Rocky told us the sculptures we saw in there are the greatest ones ever created in his opinion, but I was not struck by them, even after he explained the stories behind them. We saw two bronze panels created by Brunelleschi and Ghiberti in a contest, from which Ghiberti created a door for the bapistry, which they liked so much they commissioned another, from which came the Gates of Paradise. There were also some Donatello sculptures of David, and Rocky pointed out the strangeness of one in which David is nude and looks very effeminate, and it shows discontinuities in the story of David because Goliath is already dead, but David has the rock in his hand still. Then we went downstairs and saw an early Michelangelo sculpture of Bacchus. We learned the Michelangelo used to sculpt in the style of Roman antiquity, then bury the sculptures for a couple months to age it, then sell them passing them off as Roman originals. One of these ended up in the hands of the Pope, and he found out somehow, and told Michelangelo to make another. The Bacchus was the result of this, but it was rejected because it depicts Bacchus as drunk, which was controversial because Roman Gods are supposed to be above human imperfections, but what do you expect from the God of wine?! After that we were free to go, so Elli and I went home, napped, read, and ate. We had class at 3pm, but it only lasted an hour and a half because everyone, including Petrie, was exhausted. After class we bought stamps, dropped our stuff off at home, then walked to the train station to buy our tickets for Cinque Terre this weekend. We had to wait in line for forever, but we finally got our tickets for €18 round trip. Then we picked up some juice and soy bean oil (because it was cheaper than olive oil), then went home and started making dinner. I made scrambled eggs, and Elli made some mozzarella sticks-type things that we bought, and they were delicious. After dinner we hung around for a bit, then started getting ready to go out with Kari for a shwolf pack night, since we don’t have class until 1pm tomorrow. When we finally got ready we decided to go back to the Karoke place, and on our way we ran into them filming Jersey Shore. It was annoying because they were blocking the road and we had to walk all the way around. After a while we got bored of that place and went back to our regular place, the Old Stove. We weren't there long before we decided to go home.
We woke up and headed over to David in front of Palazzo Vecchio to meet with Rocky for another tour. We sat outside in the Loggia della Signoria for about a half hour while he explained to us the history of Palazzo Vecchio and the Piazza della Signoria. Then we walked over to the sculptures and he told us the history of those. At first the Signoria did not put out sculptures because they were worried about vandalism and the political message it sends. Finally, they put out a lion with a shield with the symbol of Florence on it. A while later, they put out a sculpture done by Donatello of Judith. After, the beloved symbol of republicanism, David, went in the square, but shortly after the Medicis took over and the sculptures became more political and more hated. There is one of Hercules which was given by one of the Medici popes as a message to obey the Medici ruler of Florence. Then, the Neptune fountain appeared. People disrespected it so much they washed their clothes, watered their horses, and pissed in it. After getting a history lesson of the political regimes of Florence through the sculptures outside Palazzo Vecchio, we walked over to the Bargello to see more sculptures. Rocky told us the sculptures we saw in there are the greatest ones ever created in his opinion, but I was not struck by them, even after he explained the stories behind them. We saw two bronze panels created by Brunelleschi and Ghiberti in a contest, from which Ghiberti created a door for the bapistry, which they liked so much they commissioned another, from which came the Gates of Paradise. There were also some Donatello sculptures of David, and Rocky pointed out the strangeness of one in which David is nude and looks very effeminate, and it shows discontinuities in the story of David because Goliath is already dead, but David has the rock in his hand still. Then we went downstairs and saw an early Michelangelo sculpture of Bacchus. We learned the Michelangelo used to sculpt in the style of Roman antiquity, then bury the sculptures for a couple months to age it, then sell them passing them off as Roman originals. One of these ended up in the hands of the Pope, and he found out somehow, and told Michelangelo to make another. The Bacchus was the result of this, but it was rejected because it depicts Bacchus as drunk, which was controversial because Roman Gods are supposed to be above human imperfections, but what do you expect from the God of wine?! After that we were free to go, so Elli and I went home, napped, read, and ate. We had class at 3pm, but it only lasted an hour and a half because everyone, including Petrie, was exhausted. After class we bought stamps, dropped our stuff off at home, then walked to the train station to buy our tickets for Cinque Terre this weekend. We had to wait in line for forever, but we finally got our tickets for €18 round trip. Then we picked up some juice and soy bean oil (because it was cheaper than olive oil), then went home and started making dinner. I made scrambled eggs, and Elli made some mozzarella sticks-type things that we bought, and they were delicious. After dinner we hung around for a bit, then started getting ready to go out with Kari for a shwolf pack night, since we don’t have class until 1pm tomorrow. When we finally got ready we decided to go back to the Karoke place, and on our way we ran into them filming Jersey Shore. It was annoying because they were blocking the road and we had to walk all the way around. After a while we got bored of that place and went back to our regular place, the Old Stove. We weren't there long before we decided to go home.
Orange Rooftops
Day 32: Monday
I had class in the morning again, then after we finally got Accent to listen to us about our sink and stove, and we scheduled an appointment for the housing coordinator to come take a look. Elli and I had planned on going up to Piazzale Michelangelo for the afternoon, but we had to be at the apartment at 5pm, so we decided to climb the tower next to the Duomo instead. First, we went home and had sandwiches and I read a little. Then we met Mike at the tower and we paid our €6 to climb. There were 414 stairs, but climbing wasn’t actually that bad. There were three landings where we could stop and catch our breath. The worst part was that the way up is the same as the way down, and the stairs aren’t exactly roomy, so we had to squeeze by people as we went up and down. When we finally made it to the top, we had an awesome view of the city of Florence and the surrounding mountains. I liked that we could see the Duomo from the top. The rooftops of Florence are all orange, but I like how the main churches completely stand out, and that I’m familiar enough with my geography of the city already to be able to tell which ones are which. We wandered around the top looking at the view, took pictures, and then we decided to head down.
Afterwards Elli and I decided to go inside the Duomo, but we had to wait in line for a little bit. The inside is nothing like Roman churches because it’s extremely plain and simple inside. In my opinion, that’s how churches should be. The windows were impressive, and so was the fresco on the ceiling of the dome, but we couldn’t get a good look at it because we couldn’t go underneath the dome. Then we went down into the crypt and archeological site for an older church called Santa Reparata. We used our knowledge from our tour guides to identify some Medicis buried down there, and we saw Brunelleschi’s tomb, which was sadly next to the gift shop, and he was the architect of the Duomo. On our way home we did some souvenir shopping and browsing, and I wanted to buy some nice scarves, but I only bought postcards. When we got home, I took a small nap waiting for Accent to show up to look at our stove. When she did arrive, she realized that our stove actually does not work and that she would talk to the landlady, but not until tomorrow because it was already too late in the day. It only took them a week to believe us, meanwhile we’ve been cooking at the boys’ and been unable to do dishes. After she left, Mike and I decided to go out to dinner, and we ended up going back to the place we went with the first night and with my parents, and I had the calamari and fries again. Then we got gelato, and then I went home and accidentally fell asleep for a half hour. Then I did some reading and chilled until bed time.
Afterwards Elli and I decided to go inside the Duomo, but we had to wait in line for a little bit. The inside is nothing like Roman churches because it’s extremely plain and simple inside. In my opinion, that’s how churches should be. The windows were impressive, and so was the fresco on the ceiling of the dome, but we couldn’t get a good look at it because we couldn’t go underneath the dome. Then we went down into the crypt and archeological site for an older church called Santa Reparata. We used our knowledge from our tour guides to identify some Medicis buried down there, and we saw Brunelleschi’s tomb, which was sadly next to the gift shop, and he was the architect of the Duomo. On our way home we did some souvenir shopping and browsing, and I wanted to buy some nice scarves, but I only bought postcards. When we got home, I took a small nap waiting for Accent to show up to look at our stove. When she did arrive, she realized that our stove actually does not work and that she would talk to the landlady, but not until tomorrow because it was already too late in the day. It only took them a week to believe us, meanwhile we’ve been cooking at the boys’ and been unable to do dishes. After she left, Mike and I decided to go out to dinner, and we ended up going back to the place we went with the first night and with my parents, and I had the calamari and fries again. Then we got gelato, and then I went home and accidentally fell asleep for a half hour. Then I did some reading and chilled until bed time.
Monday, June 20
Leaky Sink
Day 31: Sunday
When I woke up, it was 2:50pm. I’ve never slept in that late in my entire life. I messed around on the computer for an hour, then finally got out of bed at 4pm to go to the bathroom and eat. The rest of the day I uploaded pictures to facebook and read Machiavelli. We tried to do dishes after lunch, but we don’t get hot water long enough to fill the sink with more than an inch of water, which is obviously not enough to wash anything. Then we discovered our sink leaks! Another thing that doesn’t function in our apartment! It took them a week to get our internet to work, we have no hot water, we have no water pressure in the shower, our windows won’t close to block out the sun/noise/mosquitoes, only one stove burner even turns on, and when it does, it turns off as soon as we let go of the button, and now our sink leaks. At least our toilet and fridge work, and we have electricity. Also, we can sleep in our beds, but I feel like they may have bed bugs. And anytime we try to tell Accent about these problems to get them fixed, they assume we’re being petty Americans and complaining because things are not up to American standards, but what they don't understand is that things that are essential to living that should work don't. They’re completely unhelpful and even mean and rude when they talk to us, and they don’t seem to understand that we literally cannot cook a meal in our apartment and have to mooch of the boys, which is really annoying for everyone. Anyway, we made dinner around 9pm, and I got to eat my black olives and it was delicious! Then I read more Machiavelli and went to bed.
Venezia
Day 30: Saturday
Woke up at 6:00am for the train to Venice with Elli! Despite being so tired, I was excited to go, and we got ready and headed out for the train station in no time. We found the train and our seats just fine, and it was a short ride to Bologna, where we had to get off and change trains. We found our other train and some seats right away, and the train was completely empty when we got on. We fell asleep right away, and I drifted in and out until we finally arrived in Venice two hours later. We got off the train and, in case we forgot where we were, the grand canal greeted us as we walked out. We put some sunscreen on, had a nice chat with a couple from Maine, and decided to just wander through the streets until we found San Marco. And that’s what we did. Venice is the most beautiful city I’ve ever seen, but its beauty is impossible to capture through photographs or completely soak in. The streets are narrow and confusing and winding because there are no cars or vespas whipping around corners about to kill you. We ran into dead ends because we would hit the water, and we’d have to back track and go a different way. If we were actually trying to get somewhere and not just wandering it would have been frustrating and annoying, but I loved it. We grabbed a slice of margherita pizza and sat on the steps of a church listening to a cellist and violinist while eating. We wandered for about an hour until we found the harbor. We knew we were getting close when we saw a giant cruise ship going by completely taking over the entire city. We wandered down it a ways until we encountered a gondola and decided to go for our ride, despite it being 80euro. It was completely worth it! Our driver was really nice and took us through the city and showed us Mozart’s house, Napoleon’s house, and Ponte Rialto. He also gave us a bit of history, telling us that Venice used to have 1,000 gondolas and they were historically the limo of the rich, but now they only have about 400 because motor boats have taken over. The ride was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever done. It was just so peaceful and perfect, and it’s no wonder people wait their entire life to do it. Sadly, our ride had to end eventually, and our driver let us off right by San Marco square. All morning we had been alone and completely away from all the tourists, but now we were surrounded, and it seemed we could not escape them the rest of the day. We saw San Marco church, which looked very Russian/Eastern European compared to all the other Roman churches I’ve encountered. We decided not to go inside due to the line, the fee, and our dresses. We wandered down a bunch of touristy souvenir shops, but they were all so overpriced. Then we were hungry so we wandered down some smaller streets and found somewhere to eat. It was hard to find a place that wasn’t ridiculously expensive or that had nothing but seafood, but we found a nice little place and had pizza with fries. My waiter even told me I was eating my pizza wrong because I cut it instead of folding it! After lunch we wandered across Ponte Rialto and through more shops, wondering what we were going to do for four more hours. We found a piazza, got gelato/grinita and ended up taking a nap on the steps of a fountain in the middle for about a half hour. When we finally decided got get moving again, we walked back to San Marco, resigned and bought some overpriced souvenirs (because I really wanted a Venezia shirt), and then decided to start heading to the train station. We knew we had enough time so it was ok that we got lost somewhat, but we just followed the signs, and we found it without any problems. We were about an hour early, so we decided to sit on a bench in a park, but some guy started talking to us and seriously creeping me out, so we moved to the stairs of the train station. He followed us over there, but he finally went away. We sat on the steps for about a half hour, then went inside to find our train. We got situated in our seats, and a woman was nice enough to switch so we could sit together. There were some annoying American guys sitting behind us, shouting loudly at each other about stupid things like bars and chicks. I put my headphones in to escape the stupidity, and began to force myself to read Book III of Machiavelli. I finished by the end of the train ride, and it was about 9:30pm when we pulled in.
When we got home we found everyone getting ready to go out. I decided to go out with them, but I made a quick dinner first. We went to a place Kellie recommended for me, called the Lion’s Fountain. We found it overpriced and empty, so we decided to go back to the place we always go to by the Duomo, but not before we found the MSU t-shirt on the ceiling. We hung out at the Old Stove for a while (which has a really attractive bartender) then headed home for bed.
When we got home we found everyone getting ready to go out. I decided to go out with them, but I made a quick dinner first. We went to a place Kellie recommended for me, called the Lion’s Fountain. We found it overpriced and empty, so we decided to go back to the place we always go to by the Duomo, but not before we found the MSU t-shirt on the ceiling. We hung out at the Old Stove for a while (which has a really attractive bartender) then headed home for bed.
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| Elli and I on our Gondola |
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| Gondola Driver |
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| "Streets" of Venice |
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| San Marco |
I throw my hands up in the air sometimes
Day 29: Friday
Sorry about the lack of posts, time to post dump to catch up! Class/lecture from 9am to noon. We had a half hour break and I was able to refill my phone with money, and I saw a kitty on a leash at the tabacchi and he was sooo cute. After class we learned that our internet at home was finally working, but they refused to believe that our stove didn’t work. They said they were just there and it worked fine. So helpful. After class we went home and hung out/had a jam sesh/made delicious spiral mac and cheese for lunch, then siesta-ed for three hours. It’s been a busy week so we were out of energy, and finally had time to sleep, so as a result we passed out. After we woke up we made kebabs and mashed potatoes for dinner. We didn’t have enough milk so the potatoes weren’t that good, but we were so full after and it was yummy. Then our two apartments plus Kari all got ready to go out. We went to a karoke place that Breanne’s friend showed us, but we got lost on the way. I liked the place though, but Elli and I had to leave early because we have to get up early to go to Venice tomorrow. I got to watch Kari and Breanne sing Dynamite, and it was awesome. Chris kindly walked us home, then we got ready for Venice/bed.
Sorry about the lack of posts, time to post dump to catch up! Class/lecture from 9am to noon. We had a half hour break and I was able to refill my phone with money, and I saw a kitty on a leash at the tabacchi and he was sooo cute. After class we learned that our internet at home was finally working, but they refused to believe that our stove didn’t work. They said they were just there and it worked fine. So helpful. After class we went home and hung out/had a jam sesh/made delicious spiral mac and cheese for lunch, then siesta-ed for three hours. It’s been a busy week so we were out of energy, and finally had time to sleep, so as a result we passed out. After we woke up we made kebabs and mashed potatoes for dinner. We didn’t have enough milk so the potatoes weren’t that good, but we were so full after and it was yummy. Then our two apartments plus Kari all got ready to go out. We went to a karoke place that Breanne’s friend showed us, but we got lost on the way. I liked the place though, but Elli and I had to leave early because we have to get up early to go to Venice tomorrow. I got to watch Kari and Breanne sing Dynamite, and it was awesome. Chris kindly walked us home, then we got ready for Venice/bed.
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| The Girls |
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| Kari and Breanne singing Dynamite |
Friday, June 17
Art or Jersey Shore?
Day 28: Thursday
Fell asleep early again, then woke up for class from 9-11am. After class we stuck around Accent for a little bit to use the internet and figure out what to do this weekend. We wanted to go to Milan, but it was too expensive, so we decided Cinque Terre, but we couldn’t find a hostel, so we decided Venice, but we couldn’t find a hostel for that either, so we decided to go in the morning and come back at night spending the entire day in Venice. So after we figured that out we went home and made sandwiches, then siestaed and read for about an hour and a half before we had to head to Piazza Signoria by the replica David statue to meet for our tour of the Uffizi Gallery. On our way, we were walking through a market and it got crowded and everyone was taking pictures all of the sudden, and we realized the cast of Jersey Shore were standing right next to us. Even though I’ve never seen the show, the camera crew, trashy clothing, and the number of times I’ve seen them on magazine covers were enough to know that it was them. I took a quick picture and then left. They came over by us later when we were waiting for our tour guide, and I saw the future generation of America run toward them as if they were the greatest thing in the piazza, superior to the 14 foot David and the imposing façade of the Palazzo Vecchio with its hundreds of years of history and republicanism. No, America’s teenagers ran to see Snooki’s short skirt. Hanging our heads in shame we moved on into the Uffizi, where we hoped to be surrounded by more high-minded people, and we were, in fact, in the company of Michelangelo, Raphael, Caravaggio, etc. Our tour guide was very spunky, with an Australian-sounding accent (to me), leopard print glasses, and awesome shoes. She talked quickly and enthusiastically, and I really like the tour. We sped through the place and she told us a lot about art history and how it reflects the history of humans and how we think about ourselves and our world. There aren’t many paintings that I find as impressive as Bernini’s sculptures, but there was one painting that I liked a lot after I looked at it for a while. We also got a nice view of the city from the windows.
After the tour was over, Elli and I went home, made some of the Ramen my parents brought me at the boys’ because our burners don’t work, then got ready to head out to run errands. We went to the train station (which is SO much closer than in Rome) and waited in line for forever to buy our tickets for Venice. Then we walked over to the grocery store, which was far for Florence standards, but normal for Rome. It was a real grocery store though! They had so much! And it was crazy busy. But we got everything we needed and it was pretty cheap. They also had Oreos and Twix! Then we carried our groceries all the way back home, and got ready for Shwolf pack dinner, which Mike decided to crash. Elli, Breanne, Sarah, Mike, and I set out for Kari and Kelly’s place, met up with them, then found a place for dinner in a piazza near the train station with the view of a beautiful church. Dinner was good and the red wine wasn’t bad, then we went home and I decided to go back out with David and Andrew. We went to a small bar right by the Duomo and chilled for a tiny bit until we were joined by Breanne and her friend from another study abroad. Later we dropped Breanne’s friend off near the Duomo with her study abroad people, then went home and it was time for bed.
Fell asleep early again, then woke up for class from 9-11am. After class we stuck around Accent for a little bit to use the internet and figure out what to do this weekend. We wanted to go to Milan, but it was too expensive, so we decided Cinque Terre, but we couldn’t find a hostel, so we decided Venice, but we couldn’t find a hostel for that either, so we decided to go in the morning and come back at night spending the entire day in Venice. So after we figured that out we went home and made sandwiches, then siestaed and read for about an hour and a half before we had to head to Piazza Signoria by the replica David statue to meet for our tour of the Uffizi Gallery. On our way, we were walking through a market and it got crowded and everyone was taking pictures all of the sudden, and we realized the cast of Jersey Shore were standing right next to us. Even though I’ve never seen the show, the camera crew, trashy clothing, and the number of times I’ve seen them on magazine covers were enough to know that it was them. I took a quick picture and then left. They came over by us later when we were waiting for our tour guide, and I saw the future generation of America run toward them as if they were the greatest thing in the piazza, superior to the 14 foot David and the imposing façade of the Palazzo Vecchio with its hundreds of years of history and republicanism. No, America’s teenagers ran to see Snooki’s short skirt. Hanging our heads in shame we moved on into the Uffizi, where we hoped to be surrounded by more high-minded people, and we were, in fact, in the company of Michelangelo, Raphael, Caravaggio, etc. Our tour guide was very spunky, with an Australian-sounding accent (to me), leopard print glasses, and awesome shoes. She talked quickly and enthusiastically, and I really like the tour. We sped through the place and she told us a lot about art history and how it reflects the history of humans and how we think about ourselves and our world. There aren’t many paintings that I find as impressive as Bernini’s sculptures, but there was one painting that I liked a lot after I looked at it for a while. We also got a nice view of the city from the windows.
After the tour was over, Elli and I went home, made some of the Ramen my parents brought me at the boys’ because our burners don’t work, then got ready to head out to run errands. We went to the train station (which is SO much closer than in Rome) and waited in line for forever to buy our tickets for Venice. Then we walked over to the grocery store, which was far for Florence standards, but normal for Rome. It was a real grocery store though! They had so much! And it was crazy busy. But we got everything we needed and it was pretty cheap. They also had Oreos and Twix! Then we carried our groceries all the way back home, and got ready for Shwolf pack dinner, which Mike decided to crash. Elli, Breanne, Sarah, Mike, and I set out for Kari and Kelly’s place, met up with them, then found a place for dinner in a piazza near the train station with the view of a beautiful church. Dinner was good and the red wine wasn’t bad, then we went home and I decided to go back out with David and Andrew. We went to a small bar right by the Duomo and chilled for a tiny bit until we were joined by Breanne and her friend from another study abroad. Later we dropped Breanne’s friend off near the Duomo with her study abroad people, then went home and it was time for bed.
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| Pont Vecchio and Florence |
Wednesday, June 15
The Medicis
Day 27: Wednesday
Once again I fell asleep right away last night, and we got to sleep in about an hour, but it didn’t really help much. We met at 10am at the Medici Chapels for our tour with the same professor from yesterday, Professor Ruggeiro, but we like to call him Rocky. The tour was excellent and we learned a ton about art and architecture. First, we entered the crypt where we learned that the Medici family died out in the 1700s. For those who don’t know their Western European history, the Medici family members were major political players from the late 1400s until the 1700s when they began to lose power and die out. Our tour guide told us the story of the family’s coming to power. The patriarch of the family, Giovanni, established the Medici bank, which made the family rich and famous. Then, his son, Cosimo, propelled the family into prominence. First he was condemned to death for treason by his business rivals, but he was able to pay people off to reduce the punishment to banishment. He was only banished in Venice for a year before the newly-elected rulers of the Republic of Florence brought him back. From then on the family rose to power, until eventually they became royalty. The family produced two popes, a queen of France, and many dukes and grand dukes. We learned all this as we walked through our tour, looking at the burial places of the men Rocky was referring to. After the crypt we entered the Chapel of Princes, where the Medicis who became grand dukes are buried. Rocky told us an interesting fact that the material called porphyry, which is purple in color and extremely valuable and rare because it comes from Egypt, is only used for structures for royalty. The Medicis had porphyry on their graves, putting them on the level of kings and empowers. Next we entered the New Sacristy, designed by Michelangelo, where four more Medicis are buried. We spent a lot of time there discussing what Michelangelo was trying to do with the room. It is the first room where Michelangelo tried his hands at architecture, and at first it looked completely unremarkable, until Rocky told us everything that was going on inside. There was so much contrast and conflict within the room that it’s impossible to explain, especially when you’re not looking at it, but basically everything in the room is opposite, and the design of the alter implies that Michelangelo found his artwork far more important than the Medici family which it was designed to house (Michelangelo loved the Republic). Another interesting fact is Michelangelo did not finish the room because he voluntarily exiled himself from Florence when the Medici took over as royalty and the Republic ended. He literally left his sculptures piled in the middle of the room, three of them unfinished. Another artist later on came in and assembled the sculptures, but no one is sure if he did it correctly or not, and the entire theory of the theme of the room is thrown out the window if this is true. The favorite fun fact I learned about Michelangelo is that he never sculpted women's bodies, but instead sculpted a man's body, then placed breasts over it. I never knew so much information could be taken from such a small and relatively unimpressive room. Finally, we entered the church of San Lorenzo. We entered the Old Sacristy which also housed buried Medicis, then finally the basilica of the church, where in the middle Cosimo is buried under a giant symbol of the Medici family, a shield with balls on it. At this point the tour was over and it was already noon, although it didn’t seem like a two hour tour, and I went home to get ready to go to lunch with my family. Mike decided to come with, and we crossed the river to find a place to eat, and ended up eating right next to Accent.
After lunch Mike and I walked along Pont Vecchio back to Accent, then it was time for class. I was so tired I could barely stay awake during class, but that’s what happens when you’re sick and don’t get a siesta! We’ve been so busy everyday for over a week that I need a day to sleep, but I don’t get one! Thankfully class was only two hours, and I wanted to nap after, but I was meeting my family for dinner, so shortly after we got home, Elli and I headed over to the hotel to meet up with them. We decided to go to the restaurant we ate at the first night because I didn’t want anymore pasta or pizza, so I got calamari and fries. After dinner we got gelato, then my family came back and picked up a bag of my stuff that I decided to get rid of, as well as the souvenirs I bought for them, and then they headed out. It sucks that I only got to see them for a little bit and all we did was eat because I was so busy with class stuff everyday, but I’ll be home soon enough. They are headed to Rome, so I showed them all the places to go on the map. After they left I wanted to go straight to bed, but pretty much everyone else left, so I decided to go over to the boys’ and steal their internet so I could post and actually use the internet. I’ll be going to sleep soon though, probably without reading for class again, because I need to sleep in order to recover from this sickness. I felt slightly better today though, and I can finally breathe, so I’m hoping by tomorrow night I will be well enough to go out on the town in Florence. We’re having a hard time figuring out what to do this weekend since Milan is too expensive and all the hostels in Venice are booked, and we have no internet to look things up except during class. We’ll figure something out I guess. Tomorrow we have class and then another tour of the Uffizi, but we should be done by 4pm so I can finally siesta. Then Friday we only have class, thankfully! It’s been a busy week, but I’m in love with Florence. So many beautiful people everywhere! Can’t wait to explore more of the city when I’m not sick and we actually have time.
Once again I fell asleep right away last night, and we got to sleep in about an hour, but it didn’t really help much. We met at 10am at the Medici Chapels for our tour with the same professor from yesterday, Professor Ruggeiro, but we like to call him Rocky. The tour was excellent and we learned a ton about art and architecture. First, we entered the crypt where we learned that the Medici family died out in the 1700s. For those who don’t know their Western European history, the Medici family members were major political players from the late 1400s until the 1700s when they began to lose power and die out. Our tour guide told us the story of the family’s coming to power. The patriarch of the family, Giovanni, established the Medici bank, which made the family rich and famous. Then, his son, Cosimo, propelled the family into prominence. First he was condemned to death for treason by his business rivals, but he was able to pay people off to reduce the punishment to banishment. He was only banished in Venice for a year before the newly-elected rulers of the Republic of Florence brought him back. From then on the family rose to power, until eventually they became royalty. The family produced two popes, a queen of France, and many dukes and grand dukes. We learned all this as we walked through our tour, looking at the burial places of the men Rocky was referring to. After the crypt we entered the Chapel of Princes, where the Medicis who became grand dukes are buried. Rocky told us an interesting fact that the material called porphyry, which is purple in color and extremely valuable and rare because it comes from Egypt, is only used for structures for royalty. The Medicis had porphyry on their graves, putting them on the level of kings and empowers. Next we entered the New Sacristy, designed by Michelangelo, where four more Medicis are buried. We spent a lot of time there discussing what Michelangelo was trying to do with the room. It is the first room where Michelangelo tried his hands at architecture, and at first it looked completely unremarkable, until Rocky told us everything that was going on inside. There was so much contrast and conflict within the room that it’s impossible to explain, especially when you’re not looking at it, but basically everything in the room is opposite, and the design of the alter implies that Michelangelo found his artwork far more important than the Medici family which it was designed to house (Michelangelo loved the Republic). Another interesting fact is Michelangelo did not finish the room because he voluntarily exiled himself from Florence when the Medici took over as royalty and the Republic ended. He literally left his sculptures piled in the middle of the room, three of them unfinished. Another artist later on came in and assembled the sculptures, but no one is sure if he did it correctly or not, and the entire theory of the theme of the room is thrown out the window if this is true. The favorite fun fact I learned about Michelangelo is that he never sculpted women's bodies, but instead sculpted a man's body, then placed breasts over it. I never knew so much information could be taken from such a small and relatively unimpressive room. Finally, we entered the church of San Lorenzo. We entered the Old Sacristy which also housed buried Medicis, then finally the basilica of the church, where in the middle Cosimo is buried under a giant symbol of the Medici family, a shield with balls on it. At this point the tour was over and it was already noon, although it didn’t seem like a two hour tour, and I went home to get ready to go to lunch with my family. Mike decided to come with, and we crossed the river to find a place to eat, and ended up eating right next to Accent.
After lunch Mike and I walked along Pont Vecchio back to Accent, then it was time for class. I was so tired I could barely stay awake during class, but that’s what happens when you’re sick and don’t get a siesta! We’ve been so busy everyday for over a week that I need a day to sleep, but I don’t get one! Thankfully class was only two hours, and I wanted to nap after, but I was meeting my family for dinner, so shortly after we got home, Elli and I headed over to the hotel to meet up with them. We decided to go to the restaurant we ate at the first night because I didn’t want anymore pasta or pizza, so I got calamari and fries. After dinner we got gelato, then my family came back and picked up a bag of my stuff that I decided to get rid of, as well as the souvenirs I bought for them, and then they headed out. It sucks that I only got to see them for a little bit and all we did was eat because I was so busy with class stuff everyday, but I’ll be home soon enough. They are headed to Rome, so I showed them all the places to go on the map. After they left I wanted to go straight to bed, but pretty much everyone else left, so I decided to go over to the boys’ and steal their internet so I could post and actually use the internet. I’ll be going to sleep soon though, probably without reading for class again, because I need to sleep in order to recover from this sickness. I felt slightly better today though, and I can finally breathe, so I’m hoping by tomorrow night I will be well enough to go out on the town in Florence. We’re having a hard time figuring out what to do this weekend since Milan is too expensive and all the hostels in Venice are booked, and we have no internet to look things up except during class. We’ll figure something out I guess. Tomorrow we have class and then another tour of the Uffizi, but we should be done by 4pm so I can finally siesta. Then Friday we only have class, thankfully! It’s been a busy week, but I’m in love with Florence. So many beautiful people everywhere! Can’t wait to explore more of the city when I’m not sick and we actually have time.
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