Christina's Travel Blog ♥

Last Week in Paderno

2009-06-11T14:15:00.002-05:00

I can't believe these amazing four weeks are at an end. What a life changing experience. It has been a very busy and emotional last week.

Monday afternoon we had an Italian lawyer speak in our law class. It was very interesting, and I've enjoyed studying law in a foreign country because we've touched on many legal issues at the international level. Tuesday we took a trip to the Uniconfort corporate office and factory for my finance class. They are a private company that makes boilers for people to recycle their waste and make it into heat, steam, and electricity. It was a very interesting visit and gave great insight into how an Italian business is run.

Tuesday night we had our "formal dinner" at a hotel in Castelfranco. There is an opera camp here, and the students performed for us. We were then escorted outside to some big tents for appitizers and mimosas. We continued on to the dining room where Dr. Al Ringleb (founder and executive director of the CIMBA program) made a speech, toasted, and welcomed us. The program fee includes the cost of the formal dinner, but Dr. Ringleb treated each table to bottles of white, red, and dessert wines native to the Treviso region. The food and wine were FANTASTIC! We were served two pastas, chicken with walnuts and vegitables, an amazing dessert, and espresso. The whole ordeal lasted a long time and was a great treat. It was a perfect way to celebrate with new friends.

I'm not sure if this news made it to the states or not, but there was a tornado that hit Treviso a few minutes up the road from Paderno while I was in Rome last weekend. It completely wiped out a town that I have ridden through many times. We passed through on the way to dinner Tuesday night and it was so sad. Please keep the townspeople in your thoughts.

These last few days have been exciting but also sad. Most of us are traveling after, which we are all excited about, but at the same time we do not want to leave what we have established here. I have my two finals back to back in the morning and then I am making my way back to Marco Polo airport to meet my parents!! We will then head to our cruise ship and leave port Saturday morning. We head first to Split, Croatia then to Athens, Greece and then on to Istanbul, Turkey. We stay there for two days and then continue on to Mikonos, Greece, then Ephesus, Turkey, Santorini, Greece (ohhh boy), Katakolon, Greece, and return to Venice on day 12. We fly out of Venice and will be back in Dallas on the 24th. Internet is not free on the ship, so I plan to journal every day and update when I get back to the states. I am very excited to see my parents and share my time in Europe with them.

I have grown a lot in these four weeks. I think the biggest change has been my thoughts on communication. While in Rome we were having trouble communicating with the clerk at the hostel and that was the last straw. When I get back to the states I am going to learn Spanish. There is no reason for me not to... it can only benefit me and I am fortunate enough to have the opportunity to expand my knowledge. I have a few friends who are fluent and can help me practice. After Spanish I may do French and German, and then after that probably Italian (for the next time I visit Florence!!)

Also, my mom keeps mentioning to me how many of you enjoy reading my blog. She says a lot of you have mentioned that I would be a great travel journalist. I am very flattered and think getting paid to travel and write would be a wonderful experience. We'll see where my travels take me. For now, however, I am just going to relax and enjoy my family on our cruise!

Ciao!

Videos & Pictures

2009-06-10T08:30:00.000-05:00

I have uploaded all of my pictures to my website (click here) so take a look.
Below are a few videos that I have taken. They might take a while to load, so just pause each one until they're fully loaded to avoid choppy watching. I hope you like them!

Rome Videos

Inside St. Peter's

St. Peter's Piazza

Colosseum

Rome View from Castel Sant'Angelo

Piazza del Popolo

Spanish Steps at Night

Trevi Fountain at Night

Organ Fountain at Villa d'Este

Florence Video

View from atop the Duomo

Cinque Terre Videos

Our appartment in Monterosso

Trying Grappa

Tomorrow is the last day of class and I just can't believe it. We are all SO sad but studying hard for finals. We will probably eat dinner at the pizzeria tonight and tomorrow and spend some time at the bars to enjoy our last nights together. We are already talking about reunion trips and visits. I will write about everything that has happened this week in a post later.

...Do as the Romans do

2009-06-09T05:27:00.004-05:00

Our second day in Rome started out rainy, so we slept in for a few hours until it stopped. We knew our Roma pass was our ticket into the Colosseum, Forum, and Palatine Hill, which meant we wouldn't have to wait in the long ticket lines. We took the metro to the Colosseum and walked right in. It was a Saturday and the place was buzzing with tourists. The wind picked up at some point and started blowing dust, small rocks, and dirt from the surrounding ruins, which was annoying and a little painful. The wind would last all day because another storm was blowing in. The Collosseum was great, it was surreal standing where so much history had occurred.

We grabbed a panini and walked right by the ticket lines into the Forum and Palatine Hill entrance. The Roma Pass proved to be a really great investment and time saver. On top of the hill, I walked through the ruins of Augustus' house, looked into the heart of Circus Maximus, and down through other various ruins. We moved on to the Forum, and kept getting bombarded with wind-filled dirt. I can't believe the little bit that is left of the ruins are still standing. I was really excited to be there and can't imagine what a big history buff would feel like.

We exited the Forum and were right by the Victor Emmanuel Monument, so we sat on the steps and took pictures. The monument is unnecessarily huge, but still beautiful. We made our way back to the metro and went to our bus stop for the afternoon excursion to Villa d'Este. We arrived at the Villa and it was the most beautiful place I've ever seen. There were fountains everywhere... I can't emphasize how many fountains there were. We walked around for a few hours, saw the water-powered organ foundtain play it's tune at 4:30, and then had wine and a panini on top of the palace. Again I felt bad for spending the money, but it was GREAT wine, and this time Danielle said, "We're drinking wine on top of a palace near Rome." We had the option to stay at the Villa or go on to Hadrian's ruins, but we decided the place was to beautiful to leave and we had already seen enough ruins for the day. Good choice.

We made it back to our hostel and got ready to go out for the night. I laid down for about an hour to recoop while the other girls went and got dinner. We had called and reserved spots on the Colloseum Pub Crawl. A pub crawl is when you pay an amount of money, get a free shirt, and visit different pubs all over the city, eventually ending up at a dance club. It was fun and we got a lot to drink for the amount of money we paid (18 euro... we might have been able to get 3 drinks each for that anywhere else). There were too many Americans though, so Maria and I walked the streets for awhile and eventually went home.

The next morning was hectic, the other girls were really hung over and we had to catch our 8 hour bus back to Paderno at noon. We went and chilled at the Spanish Steps again and made our way back to the pick-up spot for the bus.

Overall Rome was my least favorite visit. I appreciate all of the history the city has, but I would not go back on my own dime. At least I can say I have been there. I did enjoy myself, it was just too touristy and the big city made me forget I was in Italy. It felt more like NYC or a big city in the U.S. I would have rather gone to Munich, Paris, Barcelona, or back to Florence... but I couldn't have come to Italy and not gone to Rome!!

Pictures will be up as soon as I have time. I can't believe it's my last week here!!! It is so sad, we are all depressed about leaving this beautiful country and the new friends we have made.

When in Rome...

2009-06-08T10:22:00.000-05:00

My weekend in Rome was nice. There was a lot of walking but that was expected. We bought a Roma Pass, which includes 3 days of transportation (metro, buses, trolleys) and free entrance into the first two sites that you go to. After the first two sites, you get discounts on the rest you go to. It was 23 euro, which was a steal.

Our hostel was cramped with 5 girls and we had to deal with the noisy traffic down below, but it was right by the Termini train station (easy access to the metro) so that was a plus. The first day we started early and headed straight to the Vatican Museum. They had a really cool Egyptian display out that I enjoyed. We saw many statues and paintings that were beautiful. The room I most loved was painted with the story of Constantine the Great, who is considered the first Christian Roman emperor and is responsible for the rise and legality of Christianity. The walls showed his vision of a cross, the battle scenes that he was victorious in, and his making Christianity legal in Rome. The Sistine Chapel was last in the museum and just wonderful. I would’ve liked for it to have been better lit. My neck got sore from staring at the ceiling so long, but I just couldn’t take my eyes off of the art. We weren’t allowed to take pictures but I was sneaky and got a few without flash (bad quality).

We exited the museum and ate lunch outside the old city walls at a cute little pizzeria. There “promotion” or special of the day was a drink and pizza for 6 euro. Great deal! They were so kind and instead of giving us just one piece, let us sample about 5 different kinds of pizza. We had four cheese, pesto, mushroom, margherita (Italy’s version of our basic cheese pizza), and (drum roll please) salmon and zucchini. The salmon/zucchini one was surprisingly sooo good and my favorite thus far. I wish I could get it in the states.

We then worked our way to St. Peter’s piazza and basilica.Saying it is the greatest church in the world is an understatement. We were allowed to take pictures, but of course the quality of lighting and my camera don’t portray the intensity of it all. The Chapel of the Holy Sacrament is curtained off and strictly reserved for prayer, so I went in to say a few. Kneeling in that chapel had the ability to remove all doubt, sadness, and pain. I have never been more humbled by the presence of God than while in that chapel. It was a very moving and emotional experience for me. St. Peter’s tomb is directly underneath the main altar, and it was beautifully decorated. There are at least a dozen altars in the church, and each one had enormous paintings above it. It wasn’t until about halfway through the church that I realized these “enormous paintings” were actually mosaics!! Only by looking very closely can you see the outlines of the thousands of tiles (smaller than a computer key) that made up the huge works of art. After I realized this, I had to backtrack and look at all of them again because they had a whole new beauty about them. Also located in the church is Michelangelo’s Pietà, which he finished at the age of 24. The Pieta is beautiful and looks so real that I forgot it was made of stone. Jesus really appears to be dead and Mary’s features are so torn between her agony and her destiny that I wanted to reach out and comfort her.

After a long morning at Vatican City we made our way towards the Castel of Sant’Angelo and the Mausoleum of Hadrian. The castle was awesome and the view from the top was great. We ended up going to the bar on top of the castle and splurging on wine and desserts. I felt bad spending the extra money, but as Danielle put it, “We’re drinking wine on top of a castle in Rome” so of course it was a once in a lifetime ordeal. We each got a different dessert so we could all try some. I had my first cannoli, some apple pie, and some cherry cheesecake. They were all delicious and the vino bianco (white wine) was perfectly paired. Our view overlooked St. Peter’s and the snack was a nice break.

We went back to our hostel to rest and grab dinner nearby (we had doner kebabs, which are a mix between a chicken burrito and Greek gyro… quite interesting) then made our way to the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain (yay!!) by night. The steps were great, covered in people drinking (everyone had their own personal bottle of preference) and it was a great people-watching experience under a full moon. I snagged a video of some Americans playing the guitar and everyone singing along, which I’ll post later. We saw the Spanish Embassy and some monuments as we made our way to the Trevi Fountain. Most people don’t know what the Trevi is, but I have been interested and highly anticipating my visit to it. I’ve heard it is best to go at night because its beauty is even more profound. The fountain of course was even bigger than I had anticipated and SO beautiful; it was probably my favorite site of the entire weekend. Definitely a great place for romance and gelato!

We made our way back to the hostel and prepared for our trip to Ancient Rome in the morning.

Update & Mount Grappa Trip

2009-06-04T02:17:00.003-05:00

Hello everyone! I just took my third law test and thought I would write a short post before my weekend trip to Rome. We have Friday classes off again so we can travel for a longer length of time. I am taking Alberto's bus to Rome (about an 8 hour trip) because it is about half the price of flying or taking trains. Danielle and Maria are my "travel buddies" but we are also splitting a hostel with the two girls from Purdue that I am writing my law paper with.

Because of time and funding, we are not going to the all-day Pompeii trip, but rather doing a 4 hour trip to Hadrian's Villa, which has some ruins and beautiful gardens. The rest of my time in Rome will be spent exploring the ancient ruins and Vatican City.

Yesterday afternoon there was a bus provided that took us to the top of Mount Grappa, the large mountain that can be seen out my window and the namesake for many of the nearby small towns. It took us an hour to get to the top and I don't know how we made it up the winding, skinny, steep "roads". Many of the people on the bus were experiencing motion sickness. Once we got there, the view was amazing but also not too extravagent because we were basically in the clouds... it was cold and breezy with patches of snow on the ground. It was also a war memorial for many WWII soldiers. There was a temple and I lit a candle. We talked with some Italian soldiers and took a picture with them. It was a nice afternoon.

My mom tells me many of you that read can't seem to figure out how to leave a comment. I'll try again to explain, but if you can't figure it out just keep talking to my mom because she forwards all the messages to me. At the bottom of this post, click on "comments" next to the time I posted. From there a new window will pop up where you will elave your comment. Next to where it says "name" type your name. Leave the next line "URL" blank. Then write your comment in the larger box. In the box to the right of "Comment as:" select "Name/URL". Then hit the button that says "Post comment". Hopefully this will work. If not, like I said, keep talking with my mom because she let's me know.

Marostica & Florence pictures are finally up! I hope you enjoy them.

Have a good weekend!

Florence, Day 2

2009-06-02T06:01:00.004-05:00

After a busy day at the museums, the four of us were exhausted. We had planned to wake up early Saturday in order to catch a bus to Siena, but decided to sleep in because the amount of time we would have been able to stay in Siena was not worth the amount of travel and rushing we would have to do. So we went back to sleep, got up and ate lunch at Amor di Vino. The little restaurant was perfect, located in the piazza in front of the central market. We sat outside (the weather was perfect all weekend except for Sunday) and two men came and played the accordion and guitar for us.

We had a wine tour scheduled to leave at 2pm, so we finished lunch and walked through the central market on our way to the train station. I found a ring and bargained with a woman so I could pay 2.50 euro for it instead of 5. We made it to the bus for the wine tour in time and settled into our seats. We drove out of Florence, up into the hills towards a small town (I can't remember the name) and stopped there for some views of the vineyards and olive trees. Then we continued on until we came to the Trebbio Castle (click to read more), where our wine tour was held. This castle was built by the Pazzis, a rich family living in Florence during the time of the great Medici family. The Pazzi and Medici were rivals, and after a failed assassination attempt of the Medici by the Pazzis, the Medici had all of the Pazzi wiped out. The word "pazzi" is now used by Italians to mean "crazy". The castle was beautiful, and we got a tour of a few of the private rooms inside. The owners have been there for two generations now, and have started a wine and olive oil business. We got a tour of the wine cellar, which was huge and beautiful. The castle has no central heating, so in the basement especially, it was pretty cold despite the heat outside.

We then got to taste a white wine and two Chianti (red) wines, one more aged than the other. They were all delicious. We had Italian cookies, cheeses, salami, bruschetta, and bread with the owner's extra virgin olive oil on it. It all tasted great! I can't how skinny Italians are because of the amounts of starch they eat all the time. So lucky. After the castle tour was over, we went to the wine shop and I bought a bottle of Chianti and a birthday gift for my mom :) While in line I realized there was a girl with her parents that looked about my age. I learned she was studying art in Florence for the summer, but goes to school at Baylor (a little bit south of Dallas) and is originally from Amarillo (2 hours north of Lubbock, where Tech is located). We laughed and talked for awhile. Such a small world!

Saturday night we wanted to eat a more fancy dinner and try Florence's famous Florentine steaks. The steaks are a big specialty and are priced high, but we remembered seeing a pretty cheap price at Friday's lunch spot. So we made our way back and split a 20 euro steak, as well as tripe (cow stomach) and a cream pizza with ham and mushrooms (basically an alfredo sauce, the BEST pizza I have ever had hands down!!) It was a lot of food, but by splitting it amongst ourselves we got pretty full and only had to pay about 10 euro. Not bad! We were eating at the restaurant pretty late, and so as we were leaving they were shutting down. The owner insisted on giving us free glasses of limoncello because Katie was wearing a Florentine purple dress, the city's color. He was very nice and we got a picture with him.

Drinks are pretty expensive everywhere, so we decided to stop and buy a cheap bottle of wine for 5 euro. The lady gave us four cups so we could go drinking and walking at the same time. The whole time we felt like we were doing something wrong. Maria is over 21, but the rest of us are still 20 and are not used to buying alcohol, let alone just walking the streets with it. There were many people out (a lot more guys, especially), and as we passed the duomo we practically got begged to go to a bar down the street, so we did. It was fun, the downstairs was a dance club so we made our way there.

Enter Leo : ) :sigh:
He couldn't speak English and I couldn't speak Italian but it all worked out. He lives in Florence and studies architecture. He said I was beautiful (all Italian men say that, though) and insisted that Texas must be beautiful if I was from there. He saw I was wearing rings, thought I had a boyfriend and became pretty distressed, which was funny. Anyway, we spent a few hours together and he gave me his phone number. I think he was more enamored than I was, but it was sweet and I'm glad to say I experienced some romance in Florence!
Exit Leo.

The four of us made our way to Twice, and ran into the guys from Naples that we had spent so much time with Friday night. It was hilarious. Maria and I got tired so we went back to the hostel, and Danielle and Katie stayed out and had some funny stories to tell us in the morning. Sunday morning we woke up and it was raining, but we decided to make our way by bus to Piazza Michelangelo for the view. It was great despite the gray clouds. We could see all of Florence, including the Arno River (which we hadn't seen much of because we stayed north of it for the entire weekend) and the famous Ponte Vecchio and Ponte Santa Trinita bridges. We grabbed a panini from a stand and waited for the bus back to the train station. On the bus we met a guy from California who was traveling all over the country. He said he hadn't paid for a bus or train ticket in a month because nobody checks, but I would rather pay one euro for a ticket and validate it than chance an officer giving me a huge fine on the spot. We made it back in time to catch a train back to Prato Centrale, where Alberto's bus would pick us up at 3pm. We made it back to Paderno around 8 and went to the hotel bar to grab a panini before heading to our rooms and passing out from the amazing but exhausting weekend.

The schoolwork here is starting to catch up with me. I still have 8am classes, plus the 4hour blocks in the afternoons. It's all very tiring but I can't believe it's almost over!!! This weekend I am going to Rome and it is harder to stick to my budget because that is the most expensive city. Danielle found a day trip to Naples and Pompeii for 117 euros, and I want to go SO BAD but it's a lot of money and I don't know if I will be able to see all of Rome on Friday alone...

Pictures are coming soon. I have meetings, group projects, studying, and afternoon classes to take care of first. Can't wait for the 12th to see my parents and start our cruise to Venice, Croatia, Greece, and Turkey!!!

Florence, Day 1

2009-06-01T06:12:00.005-05:00

This weekend was perfect. I loved all of the art, culture, and scenery that Florence had to offer. I would definitely put this beautiful city at the number one spot on my list of places to travel. I wish I could live there for part of my life.

Thursday we caught Alberto's bus, which took us directly from campus to the Prato Centrale bus station (4 hours). I traveled this weekend with Danielle (KU), Katie (KU) and Maria (UARK). We got a cheap train ticket to Florence Centrale (about 20 minutes away from Prato) and made it to Florence around 6pm. Danielle had booked us a room in Hotel Veneto for 3 nights. It was SO cheap, 12.37 euros each for 3 nights (total about 37 euro each) and I couldn't believe how we lucked out. There was a double bed and a separate room with two single beds. We also got a private bathroom, which is rare in hostels. The place served a free breakfast of breads, jams, and coffee, which also saved us money. The place wasn't a palace, but all we needed was a place to sleep and keep our stuff.

Thursday night we found an authentic Italian buffet, Il Pirata, close by. I had read about it in a Rick Steve's travel book and thought it sounded interesting. It was DELICIOUS, and also extremely cheap. It was all you could eat with a water for 7 euro or with a soda for 7.50. This is a great price when compared to pizzas and meals at most places, especially when water and other drinks are charged for a separate amount of at least 2 euro each. The food was a variety of meats, pastas, cheeses, vegitables, and breads. Absolutely delicious and a nice change from the generic pizzas I always get to save money. The place had a really local feel to it, and the owner was very kind.

We planned to hit all the museums on Friday to try and beat the weekend crowds, so we decided to walk around the city Thursday night and just get a feel of the new streets and landmarks. One thing about Florence that really surprised us all was how small it actually is. We could navigate from our hotel (which was more north of the main streets) to the southern landmarks of the city (the Duomo and various piazzas) very quickly. The duomo at night was so beautiful. There are giant piazzas, or plazas/squares everywhere with many statues and fountains. It is a great way to observe the social life of the locals. Florence has many art schools with art students coming from all over the world to study. At any given time you can find a number of them in the piazzas sketching the scenery. Very cool.

Friday morning we ate our free breakfast and set out early to the Uffizi Gallery to beat the crowds. On the way, we passed through the Piazza Signoria, where the David replica and many other statues are located. The Piazza was beutiful in the morning sun, and I got some great pictures. We took pictures with the David replica because we knew we would not be allowed to take pictures of the real thing later. The Uffizi is home to Botticelli's "The Birth of Venus" and "Primavera", Caravaggio's "Medusa", and Leonardo da Vinci's unfinished "Adoration of the Magi". We only had to wait in line for about 45 minutes, and the cost for the entire museum was 6.50 euros. It was two levels and HUGE. We spent a good 3 hours there. After the Uffizi, we ate lunch at Osteria de' Peccatori near the Piazza San Firenze, where I got a pineapple and prosciutto pizza. Very delicious.

After lunch, we made our way to the Duomo (Dome). We were allowed into the church for free and of course it was absolutely breautiful. The structure of the entire building is phenominal and I can't imagine having to build, sculpt, or paint it. We decided to pay 8 euro to walk the 463 steps to the top of the dome. We met a man from London on the way up the tiny spiraling staircase and he was very entertaining. It actually surprised me how fast we made it to the top, and the stairs were definitely worth it. We had a 360 degree view of all of Florence and much of the distant hill towns of the region.

After the Duomo, we went to the Accademia Gallery to see Michealangelo's David. This museum was 10 euros, a little more pricey, but we went there late enough (6pm) that there was no line at all so we just walked right in. I was looking at some paintings and found myself in an open hallway, directly opposite the statue. I actually gasped because I was so shocked at the magnificence of the piece. I honestly didn't think it would be so large. The detail is so breathtaking as well... the muscles looked so natural and even the veins were visible in his hands. I just sat on a bench and stared the entire time we were there. I realy didn't look at the rest of the museum (it closed at 6:50) but I didn't mind. I was completely captivated. I hope you will all have the opportunity one day to see the statue for yourself, if you haven't already.

As we made our way back to our hostel, Danielle and Maria saw a serial killer exhibit and wanted to go. Katie and I were definitely not into that, so we all ate some cheap McDonald's and parted ways. Katie and I went back to the hostel to rest and get ready for the night out. When the others got back, they got ready and we went out to the Fish Pub, a place we had received a flyer for earlier in the day. The bar was great, with really cheap shot specials. Three Italian guys asked us to sit with them so we did, but only one of them could speak broken English. It was pretty entertaining trying to communicate. They bought us drinks but then we got up to dance and lost them. Some American guys asked us to go to a dance club called "Twice" and we went outside but ended up talking to a group of Italian guys instead. They were hilarious and from Naples, visiting Florence for the weekend. Katie and I decided to go to Twice with them while Maria and Danielle went back to the hostel. It was a really entertaining night. Italian men are very very very VERY blunt if they like you. I have never gotten so much attention in my life. I had to swat a few hands away but other than that I had a great time meeting people. Katie and I made it back to the hostel around 3:30 and slept very well.

I will write about Day 2 in my next post! Pictures should be up soon!

Padova & Marostica

2009-05-28T05:16:00.003-05:00

Week two classes are over, I can't believe it! This weekend I am heading to Tuscany to visit Florence and Siena. We have Friday off of school for extended travel, so it will be nice to not have to rush around the entire time.

This past Monday I went to Padova (Padua) for the afternoon. It was extremely hot, especially in the city. Padova is a university city, with many scholars and historical sites. We saw what is thought to be Galileo's house and walked around to many of the Piazzas, or town squares. There were a lot of other university students, so it felt like how a college town would in the states. I've come to the conclusion that Italian women are the luckiest in the world, because all the men here could be models...

My favorite part of Padova was visiting the Basilica of St. Anthony of Padova. Some of my friends were not allowed inside because of their shorts and sleeveless shirts. Maria and I went in together and I had no idea that the church would be so beautiful. The inside of the church reminded me so much of my Byzantine church in Irving, Texas. The layout of the church is hard to explain, but basically there is the main altar in the middle with smaller altars facing away from the main surrounding the rest of the perimiter. One of the altars was dedicated to St. Anthony, with his tomb located in the middle and flowers, pictures of the sick, and icons surrounding it. I was unaware how big of a pilgrimage location this is for Christians. IT was beautiful and very spiritual. We were not supposed to take pictures inside, but I snapped a few. You can see them at my picture site, in the Padova Album. There were nuns, monks, and priests walking around everywhere, and I was so overwhelmed by the holiness of the church that I sat down and said some prayers.

The rest of our time in Padova was spent walking around and just enjoying the atmosphere. We stopped at a pizzeria and ate dinner. One thing I don't think I've mentioned before is the concept of a cover charge in Italian restaurants. If you go anywhere and sit down, whether it be inside or outside, there is usually a cover charge of about 2 euro. It took me awhile to come to terms with this, but when I considered the fact that we do not pay taxes on food, it worked out to be about the same as in the states.

It rained yesterday morning and cooled everything off. I was afraid it would get humid but it stayed cool and was absolutely wonderful. I had to wear a jacket, but I didn't mind because of the extreme heat from the past week. After the storm clouds left, it was a beautiful, clear blue sky.

Yesterday afternoon I went to Marostica with some people. I'm really glad I didn't stay on campus to study (as bad as that sounds). Marostica is a cute little town with a square and surrounding shops. There is a giant chess board painted on the square where they hold human chess games at specific times of the year. Danielle and I found a grappa shop, and as much as I hated trying the plain grappa in Monterosso, here they had flavored grappa. A woman spoke English well enough that we could communicate, and she let us try cherry, lemon, green apple, and chocolate flavored grappa. They were all FANTASTIC! I bought a bottle of the green apple, and the woman told me about an appetizer drink made with four parts wine, one part green apple grappa. I can't wait to try it.

While at the shop I also asked the woman about Italian cherries. Last weekend on the way home from La Spezia, the bus driver pulled over very suddenly and said he was going to get cherries. There are cherry stands set up all over the place on Sundays, and the woman was telling me that it is the beginning of cherry season in Italy. She explained that Marostica was having a huge cherry festival this Sunday, where everyone brings their cherries and fills the streets and square. I hope I will be able to find some fresh ones this weekend. I'm sure they are delicious!

Marostica also has a very steep, tall hill with cobblestone pathways to the top for amazing views. A group of us went and it was definitely a great work out after the Cinque Terre hike. After only two weeks I have much stronger leg muscles. The views from the hill were wonderful. It was a clear day because of the earlier rain - perfect for taking pictures.

A big group of us went to the pizzeria last night for dinner. Courtney, Danielle and I split a liter of white wine with our pizza... so studying was easier when I got back to my room. The three of us took a study break around 11 and got some gelato, cappuccino, and a "coke light" as they call it, at the hotel bar. I had my first finance assignment due today along with a quiz, and I have my second law test. They weren't too bad considering the amount of studying I didn't do...

I am all packed and ready for Tuscany! The bus leaves in 15 minutes, so I will end my post now. Watch my picture site for Marostica and Tuscany pictures on Sunday!

Ciao!

Pictures!!!

2009-05-26T16:42:00.003-05:00

Ciao everyone!

I have finally set up a website and uploaded all my pictures I have taken thus far.
The below link will take you to my picasa profile. There are albums separated by location. Just click on the albums and browse through the pictures.

Christina's Italy Pictures

I will also post this link on the side of this blog under my profile picture so you can click on it anytime. I will be updating it periodically as I visit new places.

I understand some of you are still unsure about how to leave a comment on here. Scroll down to the end of my post and click "comments". Fill in your name where it says name and leave the URL blank. write your comment in the larger box, then in the "comment as" drop-down list, just select "Name/URL". Hopefully that will work for you all.

I went to Padova yesterday. It was extremely hot but I enjoyed my time there. I experienced my first Italian cathedral and was quite overwhelmed. I can't imagine how Rome will be next week. I will write more about my time in Padova later. Tomorrow I am planning on going to Marostica during the afternoon and Bassano del Grappa for some night life. This weekend is our first long weekend where we get Friday off. I am planning a trip to Florence with my friends Danielle, Katie, and Maria. You should see them in some of my pictures.

I made an 88 on my first law test and I have my second law test/first Finance quiz on Thursday. I also have a Finance assignment due that day. I am learning so much about the stock market and investing... I never thought I would be so interested! I am still loving my classes and professors. They are clearly the best of the best. It is just hard to balance classes, studying, sleeping, and traveling all at once. I can't believe the term is nearly halfway over!!

Ciao!

PS... An extremely friendly Italian boy was giving out free kisses at the hotel bar last night. Quite the souvenier :)

La Spezia, Pisa, and Cinque Terre!

2009-05-25T05:36:00.015-05:00

Cinque Terre & Pisa pictures (many more to come!)

click to enlarge

For those of you who don't know about Cinque Terre, it is a cluster of five small towns built on the cliffs of the Liguarian Sea coastline. They have become a huge tourist spot and are also a great weekend getaway for the Italians. From north to south, the towns are Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. The map above should help clarify. The red A is where our first hostel was located in relation to La Spezia.

What an adventure! We set out on a five hour bus ride from Paderno to La Spezia Friday afternoon. The bus was crowded with CIMBA students and had no air conditioning. Alberto, who had arranged the ride for us, was not riding with us but gave us a sheet with phrases such as "Please wait, my friend is not on the bus" and "Please stop, there is a problem" etc. so that we could communicate with the bus driver. The trip was a steal, only costing us 60 euros (I spoke with some people who did their own thing and it cost them around 75 euros with the added stress of canceled trains) but the bus was crowded and the air conditioning did not work. Needless to say it was a long trip, but definitely a great view of the changing countryside between the east and west of Italy.

The plan was for the bus driver to drop us off at the La Spezia Centrale train station, but we arrived in the city right in the middle of Friday night traffic. It was horrible. I did not like La Spezia at all... it was very dirty and I did not feel safe. Due to the traffic, the bus driver drove until he could not get through the streets anymore and basically unloaded 60 American college students and our bags in the middle of the city. After getting over the initial shock of it all, We figured out where the Centrale station was and made our way there. This is where me, Krista, Jaime and Courtney split from everyone else.

Because we knew we were arriving in La Spezia at night and we wanted to go south to Pisa in the morning, we booked a hostel in La Spezia for Friday night. Krista went into a hotel near the train station and asked them to call a cab which came immediately. Courtney showed the driver the address and he proceeded to take us about 15 minutes up the mountain and out of the city. This is where I really started to get scared. I trusted Courtney's booking skills, but I was starting to wonder how much further the hostel was, especially with the cab fare ticking away. The cab driver dropped us off at a pizzeria in the middle of the Piano di Valeriano Village. There were people on the patio of the pizzeria who understood we were looking for the hostel and pointed us in the right direction. The Locanda la Pergola Hostel was above the pizzeria, and we checked in with a man who spoke English. I honestly couldn't tell if he was from England or Australia. He was very nice and explained there had been a double booking, so we needed to wait for a woman who also worked there to return. She returned and also spoke English, but I believe she was Italian. They were both extremely nice and explained that they were going to give the three girls one room and Jaime his own room for the price of one. We agreed and explained we wanted to leave early for Pisa and we needed to know where the bus came. The woman got us a free map and a bus ticket to La Spezia Centrale for 2 euros each. The hostel and bus ticket together cost 30 euros each. We ate dinner at the pizzeria down stairs. We played cards for awhile and decided to go to bed since we had a long day ahead of us.

We woke up at 8 and after a quick walk to the bus stop, made the 8:45 bus to the Centrale train station. From there we caught the train to Pisa for 5 euros. We had time to eat at the in-station McDonald's. I got some sort of sandwich with very thin, raw bacon, flat bread, and cheese. It was... interesting. I ate half of it and wrapped the rest up because I was unsure when I'd get to eat again. We met a very friendly American couple who had just come from Pisa, and they explained to us that to get to the tower, we needed to catch a bus across from Pisa Centrale. We could buy a bus ticket for 1 euro in the tabacchi (Italian convenience store) located in the train station, which was good from one hour after validation. We would then need to cross the street and catch the bus. They were very friendly! The man went to Florida State and loved the fact that we were from Texas Tech. We also met an Australian couple on the train ride to Pisa. The husband had heard of Texas Tech and it made me really happy that we're known down under :) We were apparently in a large granite region because there were drilling yards everywhere. The Aussie explained that a tall mountain in the distance was the oldest industrial site in the world and rumored to be where Michelangelo got some of his granite for sculpting.

Once in Pisa we were able to quickly get to the tower thanks to the American couple's instructions. The bus driver warned us in broken English that we needed to watch our bags because we would get robbed without even knowing it. The Piazza dei Miracoli was absolutely beautiful. We took the classic poses with the tower, trying to hold it up and lean on it. There were souvenir tents all along the border of the plaza selling things. We didn't got up the tower for fear of being the ones to make it finally collapse, but just being around it was a great experience. Due to time, money, and other places to go, we were in and out of the plaza within an hour and back at the Pisa Centrale bus station to catch the next bus to La Spezia so that we could then head to Cinque Terre.

For the second night, Courtney had found an apartment for us to stay at in Monterosso, so we passed through the other towns by train and got off at Monterosso. The train cut through the cliffs, so when we shot out of the first tunnel we has our first view of the coast. It took my breath away - partly because I wasn't expecting it, but mainly because it was so incredibly beautiful. None of my pictures or any picture you may find on the internet can do these towns justice. We arrived in Monterosso around 4pm and set out to find the Cantina Du Sciacchetra in via Roma, 7. We found it pretty quickly (somehow) and was greeted by the sweetest woman and her brother. The introduced us to Jesse and Amanda, two newlyweds who were on their honeymoon and did not have a place to stay the night. We scoped out the apartment (click HERE for a video tour... sorry it's a bit shakey) and decided that they could stay on the pull out couch in the entrance room. They were from Venice Beach, California (haha) and were very nice. Jesse had been to Cinque about 5 years ago but didn't realize how popular it had become. Splitting the apartment with them cut our price down to 20 euros each - a definite steal for the location and accomidations.

After settling into the apartment, we decided to head down the street to the beach. The water was SO cold but it felt AMAZING after the long, hot day of traveling. The water was so blue and beautiful, it was perfect!! The sun started to set over the cliff and we decided it was time to eat dinner. We found a place and I was determined to get seafood. I settled on pasta with scampi and tomato and cream sauce. The scampi was served... as whole shrimp. There were about 4 whole shrimp, shell and all, in my pasta. I was not expecting this haha so I picked the meat out and it was delicious with the sauces and pasta! Courtney and I split a half liter of wine and they also served bread.

Back at the wine shop that we went to for the apartment, they were giving out free samples of wine. We had decided that we wanted to try grappa because it very popular in the region. We got a free sample and it was horrible. Grappa is made from the leftovers of wine (skins, stems, etc) and it basically tastes like a bad vodka/tequila concoction. But at least now I can say I tried it! We also sampled some lemonchello and white and red wines for free. We also mentioned we were planning on hiking to Vernazza in the morning, and she gave us huge bottles of water for free. These people were so incredibly nice, they made our time there the best it could be. We got some gelato, played more cards, and went to bed early again so we could wake up and hike in the cool of the morning.

I made a horrible mistake and did not hydrate myself properly before the hike. It was a beautiful clear morning, but the steep steps up the cliff were a definite work out. I drank some water too fast and ended up throwing up at one point. It was bad and embarrassing but I felt a lot better afterwards. The rest of the hike was great and full of wonderful views of Vernazza. We decided to stop at the other cities by train instead of hiking and then made our way back to La Spezia for lunch. The bus driver picked us up at 2pm and we were on our way home to Paderno.

Some observations I have made:
-I am still experiencing a little culture shock. The language barrior is the most frustrating challenge. People are more than willing to work with you, but no one ever fully understands one another. I am working on my Italian pronunciations and key words. The letters j, k, w, x, and y are not true members of the Italian alphabet.
-There are more cars here than I was expecting. People ride bikes and mopeds as well. No one obeys the rules of the road and it is scary riding in a bus when people try to make two-lane roads into 5 lanes. The traffic signs are red and blue and are hard to see. There are also a lot of traffic circles, which are rare in Texas.
-Everything here is based on the metric system. Military time is used, as well as kilometers instead of miles and celsius instead of fahrenheit.
-All the meat here is served raw. Bacon, Ham, etc. When you buy water, you have to say mineral or no gas.

I do not have enough time in the day! I am working on uploading and sorting ALL of my pictures to an account so that you all will be able to look at them. That should be done by Wednesday evening. I went to Padova today and will talk about it in a later post. I am busy planning my travels with a different group to Florence this weekend. I appreciate all of your comments and want you all to know that your support and love makes this time in my life all the more special.

Ciao!!

First Week

2009-05-22T06:29:00.005-05:00

Please click on the pictures to enlarge them!

the back of La Salle, my dorm.

my finance classroom.

a few of us coming back from the hotel bar.

my toilet and bidet!!

the main building on campus.
the cafeteria is in the basement.

So I have a few minutes to write about the actual campus life and my classes. The campus is actually named "Istituti Paritari Filippin" and is a Catholic boarding school. They allow CIMBA to share the facilities so there are American students here and also all ages of Italian students (grade school - high school). It is very interesting to see Italian children and youth interact... and they seem to be just as interested in us. The fashions of young children and 20+ year olds is very fashionable, but the teenagers seem to be going for a more grunge/punk look. The youth is very dirty and I think it's interesting that their fashion culture sort of shows the "teen angst" they feel they are going through.

The meals on campus are mediocre and pretty repititious, but I don't mind because it's saving me a load of money. Breakfast consists of pastries, cereal with warm milk, yogurt, and toast. The drinks are water, juices, hot milk, hot chocolate, and hot coffee. Lunch and dinner are basically the same, with a choice of pasta (different type each day) either plain, with marinara, or sometimes with alfredo. Then there is a meat entree (so far i've tried the ham, salami, pork, and sausage... all good) accompanied by 2 vegitables. Rolls and fruit, usually apples or oranges, are also provided. They sometimes offer pudding or yogurt for a desert. Huge bottles of water are located at the ends of every table, and we just pass it around and refill our glasses as we eat. There is also olive oil, vinegar, and something else that i can't figure out, offered with our meal.

There are three different dorms available to the American students. I live in La Salle, which I believe is named after San Giovanni Battista de La Salle. It is four stories and I live on the top floor, which makes for a great view and one hell of a climb. I don't have a rommate, but most of us don't. From what I can tell, my room is one of the larger rooms with the best view. I really lucked out. My bathroom is what has taken the most time getting used to. The shower is very shallow which causes the water to go all over the floor. The water pressure isn't consistant and neither is the temperature, but I don't mind because I'm so hot during the day that any water feels great. I have a bidet! I use it to wash... my feet :) it's perfect for that haha.

My professors are phenominal. Joan Gabel instructs business law. She is a former business defense attorney and currently a professor at Florida State. She has been coming here to teach for over 10 years now, and loves answering tourist questions. I love the class, too. We have four tests (one each Friday so that the final is not cumulative) and one group paper. I took my first test today and it was a challenge but I feel really confident in my answers. My group consists of me, two girls from Purdue, a guy from Kansas University, and I'm not sure where the other is from. Our paper should be fairly simple, we're writing pro-immigration reform in the U.S. My Financial MAnagement instructor isMatthew Billett, a graduate finance professor at the University of Iowa. There are two finance sections offered, and from what I can tell, I lucked out with Matt because he is just SO motivating. I never thought I would be this interested in finance. It's great.

I am finding it difficult to stay in and study when I'm here, but I am doing it somehow. I feel like I am wasting my time in Italy when I'm studying, but then I remind myself that school is the real reason I'm even here in the first place. I can't wait for classes to be done so I can really enjoy Venice, Croatia, Greece, and Turkey with my parents.

This weekend I am going with about 50 people on a bus to Cinque Terre, a group of five cities on the northwest coast. I have a group of 4 from Tech that I am staying with throughout the weekend. We plan to visit Pisa and then hike through the 5 cities all weekend, visiting the cities and beaches. It will be a great time. Next week I will have time to upload all my pictures to some photo albums so you can see all of them and not just the few I put on here.

Please leave comments and ask questions on here! I feel like no one is reading, and I'd love to answer any questions. To leave one, just write your name and leave the URL blank, then write your message.

Ciao!!!

Asolo!

2009-05-20T08:23:00.005-05:00

It is difficult to explain how my schedule works, but basically I have classes all morning and then my afternoons and evenings are free for me. The times of the classes rotate between weeks (I have my first class at 9:30 this week and 8:00 next week, etc) and I have four, 4hour afternoon blocks throughout the four weeks, two for each class. The CIMBA program provides free bus rides to different local locations every afternoon, which is a wonderful treat. Yesterday, the trip was to Asolo, a beautiful classic Italian castle town. The graduate school program for CIMBA is also located here, at an old monastery at the top of the larger hill. Also at the top of the hill is the castle of Queen Caterina Cornaro of Cyprus. The town was so beautiful! There was a group of about 9 of us that went, and me, Krista, and Courtney (two other girls from Tech) walked the town together. Because it is one of the higher points in the region, the views from Asolo were incredible and breathtaking. There are also two fountains that are pretty well-known in the region.

The town is also known for it's more expensive shopping, so I was looking for some jewelry and sunglasses, but to no avail. The streets were cobblestone, which was painful for me because I was stupid and wore sandals. The streets are so narrow and winding here in Italy... it is so scary to ride in the wide buses because the drivers go extremely fast and at times can be packed with very little space right between two walls.

After hiking up the hills and streets, Courtney needed a drink, so we stopped at a bar for some water. I was tempted to get a glass of wine, but the menu was a little more pricey than I was willing to pay. We then made our way to a recommended gelato shop. This experience is my favorite so far on my travels here. The gelato man was SOOO great! (He didn't speak any english.) While deciding what flavor to get, I pointed to the "fragola vino" flavor. He brought out a glass and bottle of wine, poured us a glass, and let us sample the wine for free. We were a little confused, but then I realized he was letting us sample the wine that he used to make the gelato flavor I had pointed to. So funny. I bought a scoop in a cone for one euro. He was just so animated and kind... it was a great experience.

I could have just sat around Asolo all day... it is so beautiful and peaceful. All of Italy is, really... it makes me feel so carefree.

Last night after dinner, me, Krista, Courtney, Jaime (all from Tech) , Danielle and Katie (KU) went to the bar at a hotel near campus and ordered some drinks. They were playing American music, which was really weird. I never thought I'd hear lil' wayne in Italy. There were other CIMBA students and some Italians drinking there too, and it was an enjoyable time. The group walked down to the Pizzaria run by Fabio, an Italian man that provides taxi service to a lot of locals here. We ordered pizza and it was great! I love the thin crust and light sauce the Italians use.

Jaime, Krista, Courtney and I are almost done planning our trip to Cinque Terre and Pisa this weekend. I CANNOTTTT wait, it is going to be fantastic. We have found a few great hostels and plan to hike through the five different cities. I had never really heard of Cinque Terre before, but after reading about it, I am thrilled to go. There is a man, Alberto, who works in Paderno, that loves to share his traveling experiences with the students who come here. He is not associated with CIMBA, but they recommend using his services. He has offered to bus many of the students directly from Paderno to Cinque Terre and back for a price similar to what it would cost for us to travel hectically by many buses and trains. He is very kind and speaks English well, and I trust he will be a great chauffeur.

It is hard to find time between class and travels to post, but I am still trying to get into a routine. I plan to set up a photo album soon and post a link on here for pictures. I will talk about campus life and classes (which I LOVE) in a later post. As for tonight, I plan to take a quick trip to Possagno, eat dinner on campus, then go for some drinks with Danielle and Courtney. Ciao!!

Paderno At Last

2009-05-19T07:43:00.004-05:00

What a trip! I never thought I would make it to Italy in one piece. The airline disaster actually had an upside: a quick bus drive through Queens Blvd. I got some great pictures of NYC from the air as well, even though it was a foggy day.

After I arrived in Venice, I got my luggage and was planning to buy a bus ticket with the woman I sat next to on the plane there. Her luggage did not come through, however, and so we parted ways. I hope she found her luggage... she was so nice. I approached the ticket machine to buy my bus ticket and could not understand ANYTHING about what to do. A man saw me in my turmoil and approached me to help. I was a little bit uneasy because I thought he might try to take advantage of me somehow, but after a few points and nods, he got me to the right screen and let me put my money in for my ticket. While waiting for the bus, it was easy to spot other CIMBA students because we all had the same exhausted, completely baffled looks on our faces. It was nice to have others so we could stick together. The bus arrived and, after validating our tickets (a MUST for any bus or train ticket to ensure that you aren't using the same ticket over and over... if they catch you with an unvalidated ticket, you have to pay a huge fine on the spot) we boarded and drove through winding roads to the Mestre train station. None of us realized we were at the station because the driver didn't announce anything, so thanks to this nice Italian woman who said "train" when we started asking "Mestre?", we all got off and proceeded to the station.

The Mestre was insane. We found a CIMBA representative there who helped us buy our ticket, alidate it, and point us in the direction of which stop to go to. I packed extremely light and I was having a hard time going up and down the stairs, so I'm amazed that some of these girls who have 3-4 bags with them even made it. On the train, we stacked all of our lugage as close together as possible and collapsed in the seats. I noticed an Italian teenager accross the aisle from me was blasting Incubus from his headphones and it was the first familiar thing I experienced, which was nice. We took the train to Bassono del Grappa, where we unloaded and walked across the street to wait on our bus. I'm not sure when Italians have school, but there were teenagers EVERYWHERE smoking ciggarrettes and being very affectionate towards one another. It is bizarre, the teenagers' styles here are very dirty and punk, but the 20+ year olds are very clean and stylish. No one cares about the amount of PDA going on, and it makes the entire culture so much more romantic.

Finally the bus picked us up and brought us to Paderno. I never thought I would make it. It is SO hot in Italy... I thought there would be less humidity and more breezes than Dallas but it is the exact opposite. I feel very dirty despite showering and there is no point in even trying to make your hair look washed or styled. I am also veryyyy thirsty, all the time. I'm not sure if that is because of jet-lag or because of the humidity. Luckily, bottled water is very plentiful around campus. I am a little homesick but I think that is because I haven't really been able to talk to my parents over skype or text anyone from my phone. I love the campus here and will post more pictures soon. I will also write about the campus, my dorm, and classes later. As of right now, I am taking an afternoon trip to Asolo! Very excited!

This is the view from my dorm & bathroom... the picture doesn't do it justice, though! (click to make bigger!) That is Mount Grappa in the background.

Ciao!

Delta Airlines' Epic Fail...

2009-05-16T23:32:00.005-05:00

You know how there are some people who like to plan everything way ahead of time? The ones who need to have every little detail figured out so they can fool themselves into thinking that everything will go according to plan? Well, I'm that person. And tonight at 9:30, a little less than 11 hours before my greatest adventure was to begin, Delta Airlines called and informed me that my flight from Dallas to New York-JFK was canceled.

I'm typically not the kind of person who calls and rips customer service a new one, but as I got transferred from one representative to the next, I was ready to let them know how irate I was about the whole ordeal. Basically, in FEBRUARY I booked a flight from Dallas to JFK to Venice, landing me in Italy on the morning of May 18th. Delta canceled the flight from Dallas to JFK, putting me in Venice at 9:40AM on May 19th. Well... that's a problem, considering that my first Business Law class begins at 8AM on the 19th. Plus, I need at least 2 hours to get from Venice to Bassano del Grappa, where I am booked to catch a bus to Paderno on the 18th at 2PM.

So, after too much time spent on the telephone, I have a new plan! Dallas to Atlanta. Atlanta to NYC-La Guardia. Shuttle/cab/subway/bus (who knows at this point) from NYC-La Guardia to NYC-JFK. JFK to Venice (on the same flight that has been booked since February). At this point, I am less nervous about me getting to Venice than I am about my checked bag getting to Venice. I know that everything will work out fine. I'm just hoping that it all goes smoothly.

May 17th, 2009 will probably be the longest day of my life. Which is ironic, because it will only be 17 hours long due to the 7 hour time difference between Texas and Italy. I will try to post either Monday night or Tuesday morning.

Ciao!

2009-05-13T18:00:00.001-05:00

As most of you know, I will be studying abroad in Paderno del Grappa, Italy. I have been planning my trip since last August, and can't believe the time has actually come to start my adventure.

I will be studying through the CIMBA program, receiving my credits through the University of Iowa and transferring them to Tech. The two courses I will be taking are Introduction to Business Law and Introduction to Financial Management. Because the program must cover an entire semester of information in only 4 weeks, I will go to both classes every Monday-Friday, with two Fridays off for extended weekend travel. I will be living in a dorm-type living complex located on the Paderno Campus.

I hope to maintain this blog every few days to keep you guys posted on what I am experiencing during my time in Italy. Because of international rates and charges, I will not be using my cell phone. Instead, I plan to use this page, facebook, and skype to keep in contact with everyone. Please feel free to leave comments and ask questions on here, as well as my facebook! If you have skype, my ID is c.poopski.

Arrivederci :)