America, I have missed you!

I landed in the US yesterday!!!! It was definitely bittersweet. I could have stayed in Rome a bit longer but couldn't imagine spending Christmas anywhere but at home. I tried my hardest to stay up to counteract the inevitable jet leg that I'd be facing and was pretty good about it! I stayed up until midnight; I was exhausted though! This morning (which in reality wasn't morning at all but noon haha) I woke up and in the first few seconds of being awake I couldn't quite remember where I was and thought I was still in Rome then was a bit upset when I realized that wasn't where I was. I can't wait to go back and know that Rome will always have a special place in my heart :)

Keep checking my blog. Within the next week or so, I'll update more about my overall experience and things I've learned!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS...

is what terrorists say. MERRY CHRISTMAS
- 30 rock
          I absolutely love everything about Christmas. Say what you will about how commercialized it is and how we've lost the real meaning of Christmas, but nothing makes me happier than hearing Christmas music and seeing lights and trees up everywhere. Rome is definitely a prime place to experience the amazingness that is Christmas. Every year on December 8, a national holiday in Italy, the shops, buildings, and even national monuments are decorated for Christmas. Although the Christmas tree in the Vatican is subpar (it actually looks a lot like the Christmas tree in Charlie Brown), most of the decorations are amazing. All the churches are decorated with Nativity scenes, which I unfortunately haven't been able to see yet due to studying for finals, and Christmas trees are everywhere, from the Vatican to the Colosseum. 

          I did have a chance to visit Piazza Navona, which has a Christmas market set up. Piazza Navona has ornaments, stockings, and lots of Nativity scenes for sale (really high-end Nativity scenes with backgrounds showing just about every part of the Christmas story, not just the birth in the manger). The market even has carnival games and a merry-go-round for all the children. I saw lots of witches and brooms, and I was confused considering there weren't any of these around Halloween time. After doing some research, I learned that this witch is a Christmas tradition in Italy.

          La Befana, literally translated as "the witch," is Italy's version of Santa Claus. On the eve of January 6, marking the end of the Christmas season in Italy, La Befana comes to the homes of Italy's children to bring gifts for the good children and leaves coal for the naughty children. The story behind La Befana is incorporated into the Christmas story, as January 6 is the day of Epiphany, which celebrates the day the Magi or the "Wise Men" visited Baby Jesus. The Italian folklore describes La Befana as an older woman who was cleaning her home when three men came to her door in search for the baby Jesus. She allowed the Wise Men to stay with her for the night but declined to continue the journey with them in search of baby Jesus, since she was too busy with housework. Later, she regretted her decision but could not find Jesus, so instead she gives all the good children gifts because "the Christ Child can be found in all of the them." After leaving gifts for the children, La Befana sweeps the floor of the home, indicating what she was initially doing when the three Wise Men arrived in search of baby Jesus.


          I love all the traditions of Christmas and although every country has a different traditions, the real celebration of the season is Christmas story of the birth of Jesus. So, I hope everyone has the Christmas spirit this year, and if you haven't gotten excited about it yet, change your radio station to Christmas music or watch a Christmas movie or two to get into the mood (my recommendation would be Elf). Rome is a great place to celebrate the season, but I'm very glad I will be home on Christmas Day!


MERRY CHRISTMAS!

La Mia Famiglia a Roma

         Thanksgiving is a time for family, relaxation, and of course food (and, you know, stopping and giving thanks too). I was a little apprehensive about spending Thanksgiving in Rome since it's obviously not celebrated here, but I was very excited when I convinced my parents to bring the family for the break (convinced is used very loosely here, it really didn't take much more than me reminding them that my sisters got a few days off from school).
          I think I did more around Rome that week than I had in weeks, since we were trying to fit in all the major attractions in a relatively short period of time. Plus, it didn't help that November rained on our parade. In Rome, November is the "rainy month," so plans are often very contingent on when it rains (it rains everyday, it just depends on what time of the day it ends up raining). And yes, I think I'm funny sometimes.
         My family arrived on Saturday afternoon and had rented an apartment in Trastevere, which is where my school is located. It's known as the "Greenwich Village" of Rome. So, essentially it's trendy and cute with tons to do. The apartment was baller by Rome standards, or at least based on all the ones I've seen so far! The week was exhausting, we fit so much in. I'll just give an overview.


Saturday night: Trevi fountain (after getting us pretty lost, you'd think I'd know my way around by now but my terrible sense of direction struck again) and Spanish steps
Sunday: Porta Portense market in Trastevere which was right outside their apartment. I think my sisters, my mom, and I ended up getting ten scarves, or some other ridiculously high number. Followed by the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill, neither of which I had been to before. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that in the "off season," meaning November - February, they closed at 3:30 so we weren't able to go to the Colosseum like we had planned.
Monday: Didn't end up making it to any of my classes! Hit up the Vatican Museum (my mom almost got sick/passed out in the museum, but she held it together for fear of my family's inevitable jokes for the rest of our lives about it if it had happened) followed by St. Peter's Basilica. Vatican Museum is the biggest thing ever, I'm pretty sure I could go there every day between now and when I leave, I still wouldn't see everything!
Tuesday: Santa Maria sopra Minerva church, Pantheon, followed by getting the "best coffee in all of Rome," (it really is some of the best espresso I've ever had) then Santa Maria in Trastever and taking the train to Florence.
Wednesday: Florence: Azizi museum. Huge with tons of Renaissance paintings. I discovered my intense dislike of that style and would have died if I saw another religious painting. Lots of walking around and exploring the city.
Thursday: Another day in Florence, spent looking for boots. Nope, didn't find any :( However, I found lots of purses; I've got some good gifts to bring back!
Friday: Train back to Rome followed by Colosseum (first time I had actually been inside of it!) and San Giovanni in Laterano church

Rebekah and I inside the Colosseum

The gorgeous Duomo in Florence

The week was filled with family fun (some fights thrown in there as well), sightseeing, and lots and lots of eating! Definitely happy that I got to spend Thanksgiving with my family and can't wait to be home for all the great things that come along with Christmas and New Year's!

La Bella e La Bestia

I am the absolute worst at remembering to update this thing, so bear with me! Although a lot has happened since then (my family visiting and taking a trip to Florence), I had some time so wanted to update you about this before telling you about my week with the family :) I had an awesome chance to go see La Bella e La Bestia while in Rome, also known as Beauty and the Beast for those of you who couldn't figure it out ;)

Obviously super excited about
 La Bella e La Bestia

Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorite Disney movies; I like to think that I am Belle. Self-assured, always up for speaking my mind, confident, and a bit stubborn haha So obviously, I can relate to Belle a lot more than some of the other Disney princesses...Cinderella (seriously, can she do anything on her own) or Ariel (good thing she could make the prince fall in love with her when she couldn't even talk to him, that's a start to a wonderful relationship...). But, I'm getting away from my point: I LOVED watching La Bella e La Bestia.


Yes, it was in Italian so I didn't understand anything they said but knew the storyline already. You bet I sang along (in English) in my head to the songs. Of course, I still wish I was Belle. And surprisingly, Lumière (the candle) had a French accent, while speaking in Italian. I was impressed!


So maybe I didn't see an opera while in Italy, but I got to see one of my favorite Disney stories performed. Definitely worth the money and very little understanding of what was happening...I did catch ONE joke though, I was pretty impressed with myself :)


Here's a little idea of what I saw! The set was amazing, the costumes were amazing, it was ALL amazing!
La Bella e La Bestia

It's Like Living in an Alfred Hitchcock Movie

        Birds. EVERYWHERE. That's what I experience on my walk home from school on Tuesdays at 5 PM. The first time these birds showed up, which was about 2 weeks ago, I seriously thought Rome was about to experience an attack of birds. No one else seemed to be freaking out as much as I was but instead were calmly walking along with umbrellas; it wasn't raining. Yes, that's right, they have umbrellas to keep from getting hit from the massive amount of bird poop that inevitably gets everywhere...the sidewalk, cars, and some unlucky walkers. I was one of the unlucky ones that first day. Although I quickly got out my rain jacket and put it on as soon as I realized what was happening, I looked down and saw the unfortunate spot on my boot. Luckily they were my very cheap ones, so I was happy that it wasn't worse. 

Starlings Over the Tiber at dusk

        These birds are called Starlings. There are literally millions that follow the Tiber river up to Rome every evening right around 5 PM after feeding in the countryside. Watching these birds from safe inside a bus or building makes me appreciate the congregation of birds flying together in what looks like, as my mother described it, a lava lamp. But, it's a completely different story when I'm walking to and from class trying to dodge the bird poop. Starlings are a major problem for Rome because they threaten the preservation of monuments as well as making roads slippery and dangerous when their droppings mix with the rain. Even more dangerous events are possible, like a plane that was forced into emergency landing when a group of starlings got sucked into the jet engines earlier this month. Romans are trying to combat the prevalence of these birds by imitating a starling distress call to scare away the birds, which is helping but not making a significant impact. It is, however, costing a great deal to the city, 125,000 Euros per year to be exact. While the number seems to be down from the highest possibility of five million, it doesn't seem like the starlings will be going anywhere anytime soon. Our best hope is to avoid walking near the river when possible and always having an umbrella handy. Now, that was something I didn't expect to be dealing with on my study abroad experience! 

Unfortunate results of the Starlings. This is completely
standard to see on a daily basis.

Here is a great video showing the birds!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFVAwWUgeCM&feature=player_embedded

Rome: Caput Mundi

There's a little over a month left of my study abroad experience. As I look back upon what I've done from the beginning, I'm blown away by all that I've been able to see and do. I am so blessed to have be given such a great opportunity to experience something that I will just about never have the ability to do again, thanks for financing this Dad :) 

I've realized that up until now, I've just given you a broad idea of all the places I've gone and things I've experienced but never gave much explanation about how I was feeling about all of this. So, I will attempt to sum up all the thoughts I've had on this semester so far. And, for those of you who really know me, I never really do much of this talking about myself in this way so excuse me for any rambling that I will inevitably do! Haha

I experienced culture shock pretty early on and believe me, it was a pretty bad case of it. A lot of my friends here are experiencing it now or just getting over it, but I’ve been there done that and moved on. A lot of things I hated during that time I now love: how different Italy is from home…McDonalds, KFC, and Burger King at the main tourist spots are  just about the only similarity, my apartment…it may be far from school and everything else, but I have a view of the Vatican FROM MY BALCONY, my living situation…still a struggle, really, our apartment is dirty 95% of the time but I’ve started to find alternatives, and missing my family and friends…still miss them but have found good friends here. I guess culture shock isn’t really something that can be explained, the closest thing I can think of is the scary first month of college when you’re getting used to everything new and are away from home for the first time, but exponentially worse because it’s somewhere that no one speaks your language and the culture is so different from your own. It was pretty awful at the time, which you can ask anyone who I talked to then, but I’m so much better now.

Now, I walk down the streets amazed that I am living here in this city, in this foreign country. I love that things are so different and always new. I can wander around Rome and get lost in the backstreets and cobblestone alleys. I don’t want to leave Rome with any regrets; I want to experience all that I can in this city. I’m trying to take in everything and actually learn something about myself and will definitely give you that summary once I finish this experience :) As a finish up the next month, I never want to forget how blessed I am to be in this place experiencing all kinds of new things. I love everything about Rome and will be so sad when I leave it.

Dublin

            When I think of Ireland, I imagine green grass, lots of open fields, and leprechauns. I might not have seen any leprechauns, but my first two thoughts were pretty spot on. I spent the weekend in Dublin but was able to go outside of the city to Northern Ireland to see the Malahide Castle and coastline. Ireland is breathtaking, and Dublin is a very cute little city. While weather in Ireland may be harsh and rainy, our weekend had almost perfect weather, and it only rained for a few hours the entire weekend! So, we were happy about that :)

          Ellyn and I left Rome late Friday morning and arrived in Dublin in the afternoon. Our flight was a little later than expected so we rushed to the hostel to get in as much as possible for that day. We arrived around what we thought was 3:45 but were told we couldn’t check in until 3 so were obviously very confused. After looking at my watch then looking at the clock, I realized that they were an hour behind Rome time, which was very exciting to feel like I had gained an extra hour in the day, even if it was a little dumb of me not to realize this before getting there. The hostel room was a six female room with it’s own bathroom, which I didn’t even realize was possible in a hostel.

          We headed straight to the Jameson distillery once we were put all of our things away. Instead of selling tickets for tours throughout the day, they sell tickets about 30 minutes before the each tour, so we bought our tickets then ventured around to get food. Ellyn and I had both been missing bagels, and they had bagels in Ireland so we were on the search. Luckily, right across from the Jameson distillery was a place where they sold bagel sandwiches (they don’t just sell bagels with cream cheese) so I was very happy. We finished and headed back inside in time for our tour. The tour was very informative about their whiskey, and I even got to taste test Jameson in comparison with Scotch and Jack Daniels. Didn’t really enjoy any of them, though! I am not a whiskey girl in the least. After the Jameson tour, we headed to O’Connell Street, which is a main street near the center of the city. We passed a movie theater with student tickets that only cost 6.50, so we knew what we would be doing that night (I know, I know very lame in terms of being in Dublin on a Friday night but who cares).

"Qualified Irish Whiskey Taster" Certificate
 at the Jameson distillery

          The next day we had planned to go to the western side of Ireland for a bus tour of the Cliffs of Moher, but there was a mix-up and we weren’t able to go. It ended up working out pretty well because it gave us more time in Dublin. After eating our free breakfast provided by the hostel (free food is key when you’re a broke college kid), we went to the Guinness Storehouse. The Guinness tour was self-guided, and I definitely lost interest pretty early. But, I did love seeing the ads and realized for the first time that the Guinness Book of World Records is Guinness as in the beer (never made that connection before and probably never would have otherwise). After the tour, I enjoyed a free beer (“free” as in I had to pay admission so not really free but whatever) in the Gravity Bar. It’s actually really awesome; the bar has windows all around it so you get a 360 degree view of Dublin. Since we were unable to go to the bus tour of the Cliffs of Moher, we instead decided to go to the northern coast of Ireland to see the Malahide Castle.

Ellyn and I enjoying our Guinness at the Gravity Bar.

          The Malahide Castle is breathtaking and surrounded by a beautiful, green park. Our bus tour included a tour of the castle but soon realized the inside was a lot less spectacular than the outside, so we left the tour and went exploring on our own. I could have spent all day in that park and was upset when we had to leave. That night we enjoyed a very Irish tradition, a pub-crawl. I was happy that I was able celebrate Halloween, which I didn’t realize before is not a big deal in other countries.

In front of the Malahide Castle

          On Sunday, we woke up early and checked out of our hostel then left to go on a search for more bagels! Since we had some time before our flight left we decided to do something which I guess is becoming a tradition on these trips outside of Italy, we went to Starbucks. The Starbucks was near the Dublin Castle, Trinity College, and Christchurch Cathedral so we hit up all those spots before heading back to catch a bus to the airport. On our way back we passed the Abbey Theatre, which was not impressive in the least. So unimpressive actually that I refused to take a picture of it. After getting Starbucks one last time in the airport, we headed back to Rome.

Today was a national holiday, All Saints Day, so there were no classes, which is always good because traveling takes a lot out of me!

Because I am so long winded and needed an extra post...

We left Thursday night and got in very late, around 2 AM, on Friday morning. Our hostel had sent us information about how to get there by the metro, which we didn't even consider would have stopped running by that time. Seriously, we did no planning before the trip, you thought I was kidding. We went to the information desk, kept hearing people talk about the "Aerobus," and were told to take a night bus. After walking outside, we couldn't locate any bus but somehow stumbled upon the Aerobus so we hopped on and found our way to the hostel. I've never stayed in a hostel before, but this hostel was AMAZING by any standards. We had our own room, and it was like we were at summer camp with a bunk bed! After taking some pictures of the room, some funny mistranslated signs and "toilet humor"for us right in front of the bathroom, we went straight to sleep.

Friday was our day filled with Gaudi. Noah, a friend from high school, studied abroad in Barcelona last semester and gave me some very helpful guidance of what to do while there. Gaudi was, of course, the most important part of the list (you know, minus the food). Since the Barcelona metro system on paper looks like the most difficult thing ever, we decided to see the Gaudi buildings because they were generally on the same line. After a ton of help and information we got at the front desk from Matteo...we gave him that name not sure what it actually was though, we left to experience the greatness that is Barcelona. Our first stop, La Sagrada Familia.

          It goes without saying that La Sagrada Familia is one of the most ornate, extravagant, and gorgeous churches that has ever existed. It is awe-inspiring and even with all the construction was by far my favorite place I visited while in Barcelona. From the doors, to the nativity scene on the exterior, to the stained glass windows, La Sagrada Familia has such amazing detail and variation in every part of the building. While Gaudi died before his plan for the church could come to full glory, everything holds very  true to his original vision. You better believe I will be visiting Barcelona around 2030, when they expect it to be completely finished.

Details of La Sagrada Familia

Nativity Scene on La Sagrada Familia

          When we bought our entrance fee to La Sagrada Familia, we also bought a pass to Gaudi's home in Parc Guell, which he designed (both the home and the park). The park is so gorgeous with lots of mosaics everywhere, which I absolutely love! The two building that are at the very entrance of the park actually look just like gingerbread houses thus confirming my first thought that Gaudi would have made a mean gingerbread house! The house was interesting, but I could tell I was far more interested than my roommate so we didn't spend much time there. BUT, as we were sitting outside planning what to do next we saw Sophia Bush and Austin Nichols from One Tree Hill waiting to enter the house!!!! Like I said before, we had the luckiest weekend EVER. We stopped them and took a picture with them before intensely freaking out. Seriously, meeting celebrities was spending a weekend in another country..who does that happen to? Once we composed ourselves, we headed back to see the next Gaudi building, La Pedrera.

Ellyn and I posing with Sophia Bush and Austin Nichols
from One Tree Hill

          La Pedrera looks just like an average building from the outside, albeit cooler looking than most, but nothing Gaudi did was average. We were pretty exhausted at this point, so we quickly went through the apartment and didn't spend any time looking through the Gaudi exhibit things inside but did spend a good deal of time on top of the building. Barcelona loves it's rooftop views, almost every place has them (including our hostel). Again, the rooftop was amazing because Gaudi designed it. Pictures are the best way to show what it was like, considering I could not even describe what was up there, so I'm not even going to try to describe it. I'll just show you. 

                

                 



          Another amazing Gaudi building is Casa Batllo, but as poor college kids my roommate and I couldn't seem to bring ourselves to pay the 15 euros to enter (mostly because we spent a lot on other Gaudi things that day). We did see the outside and some pictures of the inside, which did look incredible. Hey, I guess it just gives me ANOTHER reason to head back to Barcelona.

          Ellyn and I had a great dinner at Les Quinze Nits, recommended by Noah as "cheap" with "great Sangria" so an obvious choice for us. We ordered paella and sangria, staples of Spanish food, and were introduced to patatas bravas, a fantastic dish that I am now obsessed with. The food was absolutely amazing, and as Noah said, cheap. Our meal was too much to finish, and it only cost us 13 euro (a STEAL in Europe!) Pictures are up of it in the previous post.

Saturday was a bit less eventful considering we had banged out the major attractions the first day. Our first stop was the official Cathedral of Barcelona (La Sagrada Familia is not actually the Cathedral of Barcelona, interestingly enough). It was nice but far less amazing than La Sagrada Familia. It did have a great deal of ornamentation dedicated to saints, while La Sagrada Familia actually had none. Like I said before, Barcelona loves it's rooftop views, so we were able to take an elevator up to the roof for another view of the city. 

  

            

         Cathedral of Barcelona

Atop the Cathedral
of Barcelona

          As we left the Cathedral we became more aware of the numerous tents lined up in front of the Cathedral, thinking before that they were just a market set up on Saturday. After looking more into it, we realized we had stumbled upon a food festival that just so happened to be that weekend. It had lots of free samples and great deals on tapas and wine. We bought a pass and got two tapas and cava (sparking wine) for 6 euros! Another steal! 

Tent at the food festival

          After the cathedral, we ventured to La Iglesia de Santa Maria del Mar. I believe something important was happening that day because the doors were closed, and no one was allowed inside. It was unfortunate but yet another reason to go back ;)  We then strolled down the streets of Las Ramblas and entered La Boqueria, a market that has just about any type of food you could ever want. The bright colors of the fruits, vegetables, peppers, and candy could lift anyone's mood. I know it lifted mine, as I was getting quite tired by this time. It was so interesting to just look around and get lost in the aisles of various types of food.

         After the long day, we headed to dinner at Taller Tapas because we couldn't imagine going to Barcelona and missing out on the tapas. We ordered patatas bravas again along with a few other things, including fried artichokes (fantastic). As we were sitting at our table, a parade happened to pass by us! We weren't expecting it at all but started hearing the band and saw it come right past us. Like I said before, somehow our luck was amazing that weekend. Although we didn't get back from dinner the night before until around 11:45 (I really don't know how that happened), we got back that night much earlier and met some people from our hostel.

The parade passing our restaurant

         We realized we needed to check out the famous Barcelona night life so decided on going to Razzmattaz, a discotec recommended by friends in Rome who went to Barcelona a few weeks before us. We didn't leave the hostel until 12:30 but that was apparently early by Barcelona standards! Definitely a fun night spent dancing the night away, which I actually had yet to do in Rome! I refused to check the time when I got back though since I knew that we were getting little to no sleep because of check out the next day.

Sunday we were up for our 10 AM check out. Our hostel let us keep our bags there for free, an added plus since we were planning to be charged for it! We had a lazy Sunday by any standard. After grabbing some coffee, we headed to Parc Guell to spend the day relaxing and having a little picnic. After lying in the grass of the Parc for hours and taking a little nap, we walked around for a bit. Parc Guell, designed by Gaudi, is huge. It's like a labyrinth. Maybe it was just me, but I couldn't seem to figure out any rhyme or reason to the set up of the park and seemed to go up down and all over the place and always end up someplace new. Whatever the case, it is a beautiful place! After a long day at the park, it was time to leave. We got our things and headed to the airport, very sad to say goodbye to Barcelona.

On the stairs at the entrance of Parc Guell

          As we waited for our plane, Ellyn and I couldn't stop our excitement about all the amazing things we experienced that weekend. We saw La Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell where we met celebrities, La Pedrera, the Cathedral of Barcelona and Iglesia de Santa Maria del Mar, witnessed a parade pass by our dinner table, got tapas and cava at a food festival, ate great dinners, and even squeezed in a little time in for some much needed Starbucks. It still amazes me how much we were able to do in that trip, and I can only hope the rest are even half as good as this one.

I feel like Gaudi would have made a mean gingerbread house - BARCELONA

I think my title just about sums up my weekend. Gaudi, lots and lots of Gaudi, and I loved every part of it!! I may not have been very many places in the world, but I have a feeling that Barcelona is going to stay near the very top of my list for awhile (Cinque Terre is up there with it). Barcelona is just filled with energy and excitement that can only really be experienced there, but I'll try to do some explaining of it.


Whether it was watching the street performers making human pyramids or my view from the top of Barcelona's Cathedral, I know I will cherish every moment I spent in that city. Barcelona has so much life just exuding from it's people, the art, the markets, and all the intricate, amazing buildings. I could not have asked for a better trip, which is pretty amazing considering I did almost no planning for it. 


Barcelona was my first trip outside of Italy and definitely a great first time leaving here. I did my traveling  with one of my roommates Ellyn, who I also went to Cinque Terre with, and had so much fun with her! At first I was a bit wary about the fact that I was traveling with only one other person, but it made going places and making plans so much easier.


Somehow we ended up with the greatest luck, ever. We stumbled upon finding a cheap way to the hostel (when our plan to use the metro did not work out), meeting celebrities, a food festival filled with everything from tapas to wine, and witnessed a parade pass by our dinner table. And you thought I was exaggerating about my lucky weekend! I could not have asked for a more perfect weekend and seriously think that all my trips from now on while probably pale in comparison to this one, but I don't even care! It was a spectacular weekend, and I know I will be visiting Barcelona again in my life.


For those of you who like to read my long drawn out explanation of my weekends, I will be updating my blog tomorrow with the extended version. So, be on the lookout! Just wanted to give you a little taste of my overall experience :)

In front of La Sagrada Familia

Parc Guell

  

Sangria  

Wine Tasting at Twenty

On Saturday, I took an awesome trip wine tasting about an hour outside of Rome. There was a breathtaking view of the vineyard and surrounding area, and I learned a lot more about wine. I even liked some of the red wine I drank, which I'm usually not a fan of - Pinot Noir is great. I still like all white wine, of course, and have learned that I am partial to white wine from oak barrels. 

Our Guide to the Wine Tasting.
We were given wine that was still fermenting!

Where the wine is bottled.

Each one of these will make 13, 000 bottles of wine.

The vineyard located near a volcanic area with nutrient rich soil.

The Grechetto grape used to make the
winery's award-winning Poggio della Costa
white wine.

Oak Barrels of wine. Each makes about 6,000
bottles.

All the wines we tasted!

Amalfi Coast - A weekend in Capri, Positano, and Pompeii

This weekend I had my SAI "all inclusive" trip to the Amalfi Coast. Weekend sum up: Friday traveling and eating Saturday BOAT TOUR of blue grotto!!!! Consisting of two hours on a boat, jumping off and swimming in Tyrrhenian Sea in clear blue water, and going into the Blue Grotto of Capri. Then, relaxing at the beach on the island of Positano. Sunday hitting up both Mt. Vesuvius and Pompeii before heading back to Rome.
Now for the detailed version, for those of you who want to continue reading :)


Friday
     Like always, I woke up super early for our bus to leave for the Amalfi Coast. Got to the port at Naples just before lunchtime and took a ferry to Capri. Once we arrived, we headed straight to the hotel, individual villas just outside of Capri in the town Anacapri. Our hotel was a bit of a hike away from the town, but the uphill walk helped burn off all the calories from pasta and pizza ;) After getting our rooms and putting our things away, we headed to lunch at a pizzeria. I was classy and had beer (in a wine glass) with my lunch. Pizza was actually invented in Naples, so of course we got pizza. The lunch was awesome, and it ended with some yummy gelato. 
     When we finished, we went to take a bus to Capri. Something I learned this weekend about Italians in Capri/Naples area. They do what they want (maybe that's where I get it from? haha). But, apparently there are only three families that own the public transit lines and just decide when to have them run and when not to. So, we waited for about half an hour for the bus before one actually came. We did a walking tour of Capri and ended at a beautiful outlook of the water. There was a beach called Marina Piccola about a ten minute walk away. Apparently it is one of the most "beautiful beaches in the world." I wasn't that impressed. It was nice, but nothing special. But, maybe it's just me. Around 5 we headed back to our hotel to get ready for dinner. Since dinner was included, it was amazing. We had a legit five course meal with appetizers of calamari and bruschetta, a pasta dish and a rice dish, steak with fries, and this really tasty spongecake. Overall, a very good day.

View from overlook at Capri

Saturday
     By far my favorite day. Definitely in the running for best day of my semester SO FAR. I absolutely loved every minute of it. Right after getting all ready, we went straight to the port for our boat tour. Of course our bus didn't show up, so we had to take a bus to a cable car, but it wasn't that bad just a little annoying. We got to the port, and I was ready to go. I was super excited and got on the second boat that came to pick us up (I tried to get on the first but wasn't quick enough). 

Port of Capri

     The boat tour was incredible. For those of you who don't already know, I'm obsessed with boats. I never had been on one until Junior year of high school, but since then I've been hooked. Still trying to convince my dad to buy one, hint hint. I absolutely loved the boat ride though. We stopped at a grotto along the way to the Blue Grotto and got to jump in the water. It was crystal clear and, even though it was a bit cold, I could not have been happier. After a quick dip, we went back to our tour. Oh, and our boat almost capsized. We got caught in wakes from another bigger boat. I was being tossed from side to side, and was so afraid we were going to tip. Our Captain even said "Mayday" which is not something I ever want to hear again on a boat. Luckily he got us out of it unharmed. We then went to the Blue Grotto, which is a big attraction of Capri. It is a grotto that you have to take a small row boat to get into, and somehow the light comes into the grotto perfectly so that the water reflected is this amazing blue topaz color. Absolutely spectacular. The man rowing the boat even started signing in Italian; it was quite the experience. That ended our boat tour, and we were taken back to the port at Capri. All of this happened before 11:45! 

     We then took a ferry to another island off the coast called Positano. I loved it! We had the option of renting a boat and taking it out, which I really really wanted to do. But, it ended up getting super hectic and didn't work out. Instead, I spent the day relaxing on the beach. Oh yeah, don't forget it was OCTOBER 2nd. I love my life :) Spent the rest of the day there and headed back to Anacapri (again, the bus wasn't running so we had to take the cable car and another bus). I actually did not once see a bus for Anacapri while I was there. I was drained from the day so I passed out pretty soon after dinner!

Beach at Positano

Sunday
     It was a packed day. We got up early to head to Mt. Vesuvius. There was supposed to be an option between either Mt. Vesuvius or Pompeii, but plans changed so we were able to see both. The hike up Mt. Vesuvius was pretty quick, but I was super impressed at the size of it. I don't really know what I expected of Mt. Vesuvius, but it is HUGE. I was a little disappointed that I didn't see any lava spewing from below, but I guess it is a good thing. After Mt. Vesuvius we stopped for lunch before heading to Pompeii. Again, Naples = invention of pizza so we had pizza again, and this pizza was great! I still maintain that focaccia pizza is the best, but this may be a close second. We, unfortunately, didn't have much time at Pompeii due to the traffic and difficulty of getting to and from Vesuvius, but it was still awesome to experience. Our trip didn't include a tour guide, but luckily one of my friends has a handy Rick Steve's Guide to Italy which had a self-guided tour. Rick told us lots of handy information about Pompeii, and I learned a lot. Some fun facts: every day, the streets of Pompeii were flooded to clean it and had raised parts of the road which people could cross during the street flooding. The bakery of the Pompeii neighborhoods had an oven that looked a lot like the brick ovens that restaurants make pizza in. Again, it is super cool to see how much history Italy has!

Form of Pompeii and Mt. Vesuvius in the background!

I am very glad to be home after a very long but definitely exciting weekend. I won't be traveling next weekend, so I'm glad to have a bit of a break from continuous GOING so that I can get some more experience of life in Rome. 

Cinque Terre: The land of focaccia, pesto, and hiking

I spent my weekend traveling through the five towns of Cinque Terre (cinque literally means five) with one of my roommates and another friend from SAI.

     Cinque Terre is a group of five small towns connected by hiking trails and a train system. It has gained a lot of popularity as a tourist location in the past few decades, and everyone there is very welcoming. I stayed in the furthest town called Monterosso, which after exploring the other towns was definitely my favorite with a cute town as well as a small beach, which was gorgeous. Cinque Terra is further north than Rome along the western coast.  It took about four hours by train, which wasn’t bad at all! It is called the Italian Riviera and there are few places I have seen as beautiful as this. The closest thing I can find to compare Cinque Terra to is Bermuda with beautiful blue water and lots of rocks and cliffs. I was amazed with this place from the moment I got off the train at Monterosso. I forgot my camera at my apartment in Rome, so thank my lovely roommate Ellyn Domanico for providing me with the pictures for this post.

Friday

     I arrived Friday around lunchtime and got lunch right away. When I said Cinque Terre is the land of focaccia and pesto I was not joking. Focaccia originates in the area surrounding and including Cinque Terre and pesto was first introduced in Cinque Terre. So, obviously eating became a large part of my weekend!  I got a basic slice of pizza for my lunch when I arrived, or so I thought. Basic is nowhere near the description of the pizza in Cinque Terre; pizza made with focaccia bread may be one of my new favorite foods. It is absolutely delicious! After getting lunch, we settled into our hotel room and sat for a while to let our food digest a bit before hiking.

     Like I said earlier, we could take the trains through the towns or hike between them. The hikes range from difficulty levels of 1 – 5 with the hike between Monterosso and the nearest town Vernazza being the level 5 hike, so we wanted to begin with this hike. It was definitely a difficult hike with a very steep incline and a pretty far distance. We all felt quite accomplished when we made our way from Monterosso to Vernazza. Vernazza was a bit smaller of a town but, like Monterosso, it also had a small beach area with access to the sea. It was a bit overcast that day so none of us were very interested in going in the water. We just were happy to have finished the hike. Since we were already tired from traveling and hiking, we went back to Monterosso for dinner. It was a very good dinner and we ordered the locally made wine: white wine, my favorite. I was very pleased :)

View of Monterosso from the hiking trail

 Tara, Ellyn, and I nearing the end of our hike! 

Saturday

     Unfortunately, it rained very hard on Friday night so one of the trails was closed. However we were still able take the train to Vernazza and hike to the next town Corniglia, which was the level 4 hike, definitely still difficult. We ate lunch in Corniglia, but it was a smaller town and on top of the mountain so unlike the first two, we were nowhere near the water (we wore our bathing suits just in case, though). Since the trail between Corniglia and the next town Monorola was closed, we took the train to it. Monorola is another larger town with a large number of things to do and even has vineyards along the mountainside. We spent a good deal of time in Monorola since we needed a bit of a break from walking and really liked the town. After spending time in Monorola we ventured to the last town Riomaggiore. The “trail” between Monorola and Riomaggiore was a paved road called Via dell’Amore.

    

     


     This road was said to be the road that lovers traveled if they lived in the separate towns of Monorola and Riomaggiore. The road is filled with locks along the gates and fences left by couples. It is actually really precious and beautiful, and I am not at all a romantic. Alongside the road, there is graffiti on the walls of love as well. It was definitely a very romantic atmosphere, maybe I’ll go back later on in life ;)

     Once we reached Riomaggiore, we were afraid to was going to rain again so, we decided to head back to Monorola by the train. We ate dinner in Monorola where I got pesto lasagna. Now, I love lasagna already, but pesto lasagna is absolutely fantastic. Remember, pesto originates in Cinque Terre so it was completely amazing! 

Now if I have kept your attention for this whole post, I am very surprised at your focus!

Sunday

     Since we had to pay for train tickets and trail passes, we decided to have a lazy Sunday, a very lazy Sunday. We spent the day at the beach and although it was cold, I couldn’t help but just marvel at how amazing of a place Cinque Terre is. I was sad to leave but actually very happy to come home. Home sweet Rome.

I don’t know if I’ll ever have a time in my life where I am completely free to explore the world like I have now, and I definitely am so excited to take advantage of this opportunity! There is so much left for me this semester and I can’t wait to experience it all.