Rome and Venice!

 After I left Florence, Tessa, Lindsey, and I went to Rome. Rome was the first place I flew into upon arriving in Italy and I had already seen a lot of the ancient sites to see but it was good to go back. Initially I hadn't really liked Rome that much because I found it overwhelming but the second time around I was impressed with how much I remembered my way around and how much more I enjoyed myself.
The first day we were there we went to the Vatican, which was the only real reason I needed to go back to Rome because I hadn't been yet. There are truly no words! The place is incredible and I don't think I have ever been so proud to be a Catholic. We went to the Vatican Museum first and the Sistine Chapel. The Vatican Collection is amazing and I loved finally getting to see sculptures such as Laocoon and Sons and the Apollo Belvedere. The School of Athens was also a favorite of mine but I couldn't wait to see the Sistine Chapel and the anticipation was building up the closer I got. Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel was the entire reason I decided to major in art history. I'm a huge fan of his and find everything he has done absolutely fascinating so I knew this was going to be amazing for me. Upon entering the chapel (true to form) I started crying as gut reaction. It's the most perfect thing that I've ever seen. The fact that Michelangelo didn't even consider himself a painter or want to be doing the chapel in the first place baffles my mind as well. The ceiling is stunning but I think my favorite part of the chapel is The Last Judgement which he did 30 years after he painted the ceiling. It is with this piece that Michelangelo reached perfection with his figures suspended against the bright blue background, basically telling the story of the day when we are all going to be judged. It's a sobering moment to see this place in person and it was one of the highlights of my entire European sojourn. After we did the Vatican Museum, we went into St. Peter's Basilica. It's HUGE but its gorgeous on the inside in its decoration. We also got lucky because by the time we got inside there it was Saturday afternoon and we had the opportunity to go to mass at the Vatican. I'm not the best person in the world when it comes to routinely going to church but even for me this was a special moment and the mass was beautiful.

 

The School of Athens, Raphael




The rest of our time in Rome was spent doing things I had already done the first time I was in Rome. Tessa and Lindsey really liked the Trevi Fountain so we spent a lot of time there. I also threw three coins in the fountain with the wish and hope of returning to Italy someday. We also went to the Pantheon and walked around the city a lot. On our second day there, we left Rome and took a night train to Venice. I will never do this again unless I pay for first class and air conditioning. It was miserably hot and I was stuck in a car full of French people who would not stop talking. Sometime in the middle of the night, I had somewhat of a mental breakdown/crisis and had no idea what I was doing in Europe. I was so close to having a meltdown that I almost got off the train in the middle of the night with out any cell phone when we stopped in Florence but I controlled myself and made it to Venice just when the sun was rising.

Venice is such a cool city! Despite having a bit of a trash problem (it resembles a fraternity house at times), it has so many nooks and crannies and is the perfect place to go exploring. Our hotel was beautiful and right on the water and we just spent our time in Venice walking around, shopping, and relaxing. The weather was beautiful, although a bit hot but I enjoyed my time there a lot. It was nice to just chill after being on the go constantly my entire time in Europe. St. Mark's Square is amazing and we just sat by the water and had a drink, enjoying the fact that we had nothing to do. The highlight of the whole trip was definitely going on a gondola ride. The city is a completely different city by boat then it is by street. It was on the gondola that I saw all the charm and character that Venice has to offer. It has an entirely different feel than any of the other places I've been in Italy and I would go back in a heart beat. We were only there about two days and we saw the entire city pretty much! It's a great city for a vacation and I'm so glad I decided to go because before that I didn't have much of a desire to go there.

                                                                    St Mark's Square

My Love Letter to Florence

Dear Florence,

It feels weird that I've left you and don't know when I'll be back. When I was leaving, it felt wrong and like I was leaving something that fits me perfectly. It was actually a struggle not to cry the days leading up to leaving. No place has ever been so comforting, exciting yet challenging, and peaceful for me. I'm leaving you a better person, someone a little more capable of taking care of myself and someone slightly more sure of what I want in life. There are so many things that I'm going to miss about you among them: all the incredible people I've met, the Italian concept of time, fragola gelato from Vivolis, Gusta Pizza, Pear and Cheese pasta, hearing the church bells, walking along the Ponte Vecchio, the sunset from Piazzale Michelangelo, the sight of the Duomo and the fact that it never fails to give me goosebumps, being able to drink wine anywhere and whenever, aperitivo, short trips to the beach, sitting outside in piazzas all the time, the views of the mountains from the city, my teachers and classes, being able to always say "ciao," walking everywhere and almost always discovering something new and exciting, Louis Vuitton bags as far as the eye can see, and most of all the affection and warmth of the Italian people. And this is just the beginning of what I'll miss about you. You made me realize so many things about myself and I'll never be the same. I know that I will be back someday because you and I have unfinished business. Till then I will think of you everyday and you will never be far from my heart. 

Love, 

Katie 

Time is flying

And so begins my last week in Florence! It's so weird to think that my time here is almost over. It feels like I've been here forever but at the same time it feels like I just got here. Over this past weekend I went to Pisa with Matteo and then we went to Cinque Terre as well. It's amazing there-that's one place I definitely want to go back to so I can do the hike, which Matteo did not want to do. 

Standard touristy Pisa picture

There are so many things in Florence that I need to do before I leave. The last week has been kind of stressful for me. Between school work (which I have a lot of) and not really having the two weeks where I'm traveling planned out I've been very stressed out. This past week was also the first week I started to be a little bit homesick for my mommy. I'm just so tired all the time from constantly being on the go and trying to do as much as I can here. I feel like I haven't been really taking the best care of myself because I'm pushing myself too hard to get everything done while still having fun. The idea of coming home to America is something I'm looking forward to for certain reasons but at the same time I feel like I have so much that I still need to do in Florence. I've met the best people here and it will be weird being at home and not seeing them everyday. After I get home to the States, I feel like I will sleep for about two days and then after a few days of being home I will just miss Italy terribly. My friend Tessa Reed is coming tomorrow from England, so it will be nice to see her and have a familiar face and then afterwards I'm returning to Bristol with her to spend some time in England. Adriana Christensen from UMW has also been here in Florence and its been a huge comfort having her around and we have grown to be good friends. It's crazy how much time flies and how much I've seen and changed since I've been here. Italy has made me feel like a whole person and for that I will forever be grateful for this experience. 

Paris: Part Two

Paris was one of the best places I’ve ever been. Even though the weather was not good at all, it was cold and rainy; we still saw a lot of the city. By the end of the weekend I could basically navigate the metro with out a map and I felt totally comfortable. Our second day in Paris all of us took a day trip to Versailles. It’s insane there! We had to wait in such long lines but we got to explore the gardens first and then do the tour of the palace with the audio guides. I now understand why the French revolution happened because if the monarchy was living like that they definitely had it coming. The entire placed is entirely gilded in gold and it’s enormous. Just the gardens would probably take an hour to walk through. There is also the most wonderful art inside the palace. My obsession with ceiling painting is a lot worse after seeing this palace. It’s just so ornate and elaborate and I loved it so much. I also liked going there because I don’t really know a lot about French history and the French baroque style so it was nice to become more familiar with that area of art history. 

Roomies at Versailles!

After seeing the palace, all of us were pretty tired so we got on the train/metro to go back to the apartment and relax a little bit before going to the Eiffel tower that night. In Paris, I was amazed by how late the sun goes down. It doesn’t get dark until like 10 or 10:30 at night so we headed out to the Eiffel tower around 8 to take pictures and pop some champagne and also watch the light show. The Eiffel tower is unreal. It’s so much bigger than I imagined and I wanted to cry at the sight of it. None of us could actually believe our lives and that we were in Paris standing by the Eiffel tower. I have had these preconceived fantasies about Paris since I was a little girl and I can honestly say that it’s everything I wanted and more and I have to go back. Being by the Eiffel tower at night with the lights and good people was magical and I don’t think I’ll ever forget that. 

On Sunday morning, some of my roommates wanted to go to the French open and try and scalp tickets for the finals between Nadal and Djokovic. I would have liked to do that just to say I had gone but I was starting to panic because I hadn’t seen any art museums yet and I was exhausted as well. My roommates aren’t huge on museums and I’m the type of person that could live in them so I decided to pass up the French open, sleep in and go to the Musee D’Orsay. I was in heaven between all the Monets, Van Goghs and Degas’. Last semester at Mary Washington I took a Post-Impressionism to Abstract Expressionism class asnd we spent a lot of time studying Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cezanne, and Seurat all of which I finally got to see. I spent a couple hours in there literally gawking at these paintings, some of which I had been studying for years and couldn’t believe I was actually seeing with my own eyes. Degas’ dancer figures are incredible and I was so happy to see so many Rodins as well. After the museum I met back with my roommates, who ended up going to the French open, at our apartment and we got food and just took it easy our last night in Paris. The weather was awful and I was so tired so I didn’t even feel bad staying in. We also had to wake up early to check out of our place and go to the Louvre. 

The Louvre was an interesting experience. It’s an understatement to say that the museum is huge. It’s hard to fathom how much art is in that museum. We were in there for a couple of hours and barely made a dent. They try to make the experience as easy for you as possible but as a technologically challenged human being I couldn’t use the Nintendo DS audio guide that you can get for very long, although it is awesome because it has a GPS and tells you right where you are going. The Louvre cannot be done in a day rather has to be done in a few days or months in order to be done right. I would consider myself an art lover, but even I was way to ADD to handle going to the Louvre. It’s also crowded and I’m definitely claustrophobic so overall I didn’t love the experience. But the art that I saw made up for it. It was amazing to see things like the Mona Lisa, Liberty Leading the People, and The Raft of the Medusa among countless other extremely famous works of art. I feel way more legitimate as someone who studies art now that I’ve been to the Louvre just because so much is there. After the Louvre, the roommates and me got lost trying to find this crepe place that Sarah’s dad recommended and ended up walking a lot of the city and then finally ending up shopping at the Champs-Elysees. The most ridiculous part of this experience was seeing the ginormous Abercrombie and Fitch store that is there. It was legit like a small palace and you could smell it from down the street. It was complete with models and people dancing to techno music. My roommates and I could not stop laughing at how strange it was. Walking the Champs Elysees was a nice way to spend my last few hours in Paris and at least I can say that I’ve been there even though I didn’t buy anything and the shopping area didn’t impress me that much. After our day out, it was back to the hotel to grab our luggage and get back on the metro to get to Paris-Beauvais and fly back to Bologna on a late flight in which we had to spend the night in the airport because trains to Florence don’t run all night. I was sad to leave Paris. Aside from Florence, it’s with out a doubt my favorite city and I need to go back, perhaps even on this same trip. There’s just so much to see and do there and I love the energy that I get from being there. 

Paris part one!

6/8/12 

Currently writing from a Paris apartment where I’m staying with my roommates. I haven’t really seen any of Paris yet because we got in late last night but I have a really good feeling about this city. One of my roommates Sarah’s parents are here which is nice because her dad knows what he’s doing and we are right by the metro system which can take you all over the city easily. Getting into our apartment was the most stressful part of the trip. The guy who checked us in gave us like 10 different keys on one hook but of course forgot to give us the key that got us into our area of the building. The place is absolutely adorable but walking back and forth between our apartment and the office where he was at two in the morning was terrifying and I felt like we were in the movie Taken. All these creepy guys were trying to talk to us and I was legitimately about to freak out.

6/9/12 

Our first day in Paris was amazing! We slept in late but we finally woke up and started the process of getting ready. Aside from the stress of getting into our apartment the night before our shower was also not draining forcing Hayley Bop and I to wash each others hair in the sink. When we were finally ready we all met up with Sarah’s parents and got crepes (nutella and coco-so delicious!) and then walked to Notre Dame. Notre Dame is beautiful!!!! I nearly cried when walking in the sanctuary. There is something about gothic cathedrals that are just so solemn but for that reason they are so powerful. I love the height that comes with them and the idea of going up forever towards the heavens. I got a zillion pictures of the church. Afterwards we went to the Arc de Triomph, which is also a great spot in the city. We climbed to the top of it and got the most amazing view of Paris. I’m so impressed by this city and it surprised me how much certain things reminded me of Washington, Dc. I feel like if I could come back and study in Europe again somewhere other than Florence it would definitely be Paris. It’s gorgeous and everyone we have talked to has been so friendly towards us and it was not what I expected at all because lots of people have told me that the French don’t particular like Americans. I loved walking around the city and seeing all the beautiful buildings. It’s really great having Sarah’s parents here especially her dad because he has been here so many times and tells us everywhere we have to go so we don’t have to be stressed with planning. The French Open is going on right now so while we were walking in the city there were tons of people watching the matches on these big screens outside and my roommates want to try and scalp tickets to the finals. For dinner we went to this little hole in the wall place by the Pantheon where I had the most delicious steak and potatoes and brioche with ice cream for dessert. 

Barcelona!

This past weekend my roommates and I went to Barcelona. We were so excited to go because we hadn’t traveled anywhere out of Italy yet even though we’ve been in Europe for about a month. Barcelona is an amazingly beautiful city but it’s huge. I had gotten so used to small and easy to navigate Florence so to be in a big city again was overwhelming and the entire time I just felt lost. It didn’t feel like I was in Spain but felt as if I was somewhere in America. Seeing Starbucks on every street corner for the first time in what felt like forever confirmed that even more. There is so much to do in Barcelona but we didn’t plan our trip out very well. When we got there we went out to walk Las Ramblas, which was right by the apartment that we stayed in by Placa Catalunya. The streets were so crowded but it was fun to watch everyone out and about and enjoying themselves. We grabbed some beers and then walked down to the water, mesmerized by the beauty of the city. In Barcelona, every building is gorgeous and has a lot of character so per usual I couldn’t stop staring and taking pictures.


Later that night we went out to an enormous nightclub right on the beach called Opium. The nightlife in Barcelona is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. People don’t even go out to the clubs before 1 am and the club itself was huge and so much fun. I didn’t want to drink really in Barcelona because there was just a lot I wanted to see and its hard to balance going out and sightseeing during the day when you are only in a city for a short period of time.

The next day we were all so tired from traveling and being out late so we decided to spend the day at the beach. The weather was perfect and we all just got some drinks and rented chairs at the beach, which was crowded with people and entertaining. It was so relaxing to lay out and get some sun and I even got a 25 minute full body massage for 10 euros which I had been needing since getting to Europe. That night we all wanted some American comfort food so we went to the Hard Rock Café for a late dinner and I ordered my body weight in food. I had really missed ranch dressing. Then we went out to this awesome hole in the wall shot bar called Espit Chupitos. This place is great because every shot is 2 euros and they have hundreds to choose from and when they give you the shot they make you do something or make you take it in a special way. It was in an area of Barcelona that was not so touristy so I finally felt like I was in actual Spain and everyone we met was so entertaining.

The third day we were there was a Sunday and by then I was getting nervous because we hadn’t done much sightseeing and did not really know how to go about it because the city is so huge. We ended up doing a two-day bus tour pass, which I recommend because it takes you all over the city and you can get on and get back off as much as you want. Our first stop was La Sagrada Familia, the masterpiece temple by Antoni Gaudi, which is still under construction. This place is magnificent and I instantly fell in love. There is so much detail to the building it’s impossible to look at it all once and the inside fells like you are in some sort of alternate world. I loved how different it was from the other churches that I’ve been into in Europe and how Gaudi was inspired by natural elements to form the style of the church. It is truly one of a kind and I think Gaudi was successful in his goal to create a space where heaven and earth meet. We spent some time at the church and then got back on the bus and drove around the whole city so I felt like I saw a lot.


The next day and our last day, we went to Camp Nou, the home of FC Barcelona. I was so excited to go see the stadium because my family is pretty big on Barcelona futbol and I wanted to see where all my favorite soccer players play. We got a student discount to go in which was nice and they have an amazing museum there explaining the history of the futbol team and the other teams as well. The stadium itself is impressive and I’m not going back to Barcelona unless I get to see a game there and I get to wear my Messi jersey that I bought. 

Overall, we had a good time in Barcelona until Tuesday morning when we missed our flight. That might have been the most stressful morning of my life but it ended up being okay and we stayed at a cute hotel in Girona where we got to tan by the pool, have drinks, and eat rib-eye steak for dinner. 

We got back to Florence on Wednesday morning and I was so relieved when I saw my city. Everyday I realize more how much I adore Florence and never want to leave. I caught up with Matteo who I hadn’t seen all weekend and was having major separation anxiety from. That night a bunch of us went to Piazzale Michelangelo, one of my favorite spots in the city, before going out. I was joined by some familiar Mary Washington faces: Adriana Christensen (also studying here), Katy Taylor, and Joel Bassam. It was fun to see people from home. Being back in Italy for a day was such a tease because we had to get settled in for that day only to turn around and leave for Paris the next day. Three countries in three days makes me feel like a complete world traveler! 

Random Pictures from my trip

The Roomies and I being Tourists in Florence

We are all happy not having to be using our maps anymore because nothing screams American more. People don't stare at us as much anymore but before all we would get were looks from just about everyone.



















Abbey Roading at Chiesa di Santa Croce

Don't go to Florence without visiting the Museo Gucci in Piazza della Signoria. This place is awesome especially for anybody that loves fashion! 

Roomies before going out! The Lion's Den has become a favorite spot to go sometimes because lots of other American students go there. 

Friends- Lauren, Kate, Hannah, Carly, Myself, and Grace before a night of clubbing. The nightlife in Florence is absolutely crazy with clubs being open till 4 or 5 am.