La Finale Tre Settimane

There are only three weeks, less actually, 18 days, left which is completely and utterly absurd. Looking back it feels like I just got here, that it can’t three and a half months later. Other times though, it seems like the first few weeks and trips were so long ago, so much has happened since then.

Having only three weeks left isn’t exactly a bad thing, it has its positives and negatives. The negatives… well I have three papers all due next week, not one of which has been started yet, I’m getting around to that. Then the following week we have finals in all of our classes. Basically there is a lot that has to get done in the next few weeks. If my day goes according to plan I’m going to finally send postcards out today. I’m hoping that they will actually make it home before I do, we’ll see what happens. A positive though, we didn’t have one class this week because of the Volcano, our professor couldn’t get back to Italy from the states… Loyola gets snow days, we get volcano days.

There are definitely a few positive things to look forward to in the next few weeks. We have a school trip this weekend to Napoli, Pompeii and Sorrento, which includes a trip to Capri Island off the Bay of Naples. Then once we get back we have a final full weekend in Rome to enjoy. Some of my friends are traveling, but I wanted to stay in Rome for one last weekend.

There is a lot going on in these last few weeks. The month of April has been a crazy and busy one so far. It’ll be nice to have all of this work done and just enjoy the last few days abroad. With that said I think my procrastination has come to an end and that I’m going to start some work.

Why Rome is Awesome and Everyone Should Study/ Visit

My last few posts have been about my travels through Italy. I had been traveling for the past three weekends and at the end of each trip I could not wait to get back to Rome. This place really has become my home. Following my travels I had two weekends to spend in Rome before Spring Break. These two weekends helped me to realize why Rome is the best study abroad program and I now have my top ten reasons why Rome is Awesome:

10- I have visited almost every place/ piece of art that I have learned about/ covered in my class. Beats reading about it in a book in Baltimore.

9- The language. For one of the first times it has actually been imperative that I use what I have learned.

8- The weather. While its not 80 and sunny everyday, its also not 20 and snowing. I’ll take rain over that.

7- Walking. Rome was a city made for walking. I can walk almost anywhere, anytime and its always safe.

6- The Parks. Many of the old villa estates have been converted into parks that remove you from the fast paced city. Nothing but green fields, trees and tranquil surroundings.

5- No other city has quite the same character or charm as Rome. Small cafes, tiny narrow side streets, cobblestone streets and statues everywhere.

4- Romans love being Roman, they’re all very distinct and very nice. Its rare that you will find a restaurant that is not Italian. Unlike in other countries where you find varieties of restaurants, here its Italian all the time with the occasional kebab or Chinese restaurant.

3- The Nightlife. So many other places in Italy and Europe are dead during the week, not Rome. You can find somewhere to go and have a good time every night of the week.

2- The food. If its not fresh they wont cook it. Whether you’re eating at home or at a restaurant everything is fresh… Things just taste better here.

1- The history, what did you think it would be… Rome is a modern city rooted in its antiquity, like I said, Romans love being Romans and aren’t anywhere near forgetting where they came from. Walking past ancient buildings and ruins on a daily basis, the Coliseum and the Forum on the way home after a night out… nothing comes close to that.

Carnevale

Being in Italy during the Carnevale season and not visiting Venice might as well be a sin. We left on a Friday after our last class for Venice. We took the Euro-Star, the high-speed train, which instead of getting on the high-speed line was on a regular track. Needless to say we were an hour and a half late, the trip was off to a little bit of a rocky start.

We checked into our hotel on Venice mainland, which overcharged because it was literally just a place to sleep, but hey its Carnevale season everyone is doing it. At around 11:30pm we headed to Venice Island to check out what it was like. We were surprised to find that things were pretty dead. There were a few people who were dressed up, but there weren't too many people around. After exploring for about an hour we headed back to the hotel.

We got started around 11 the next morning and it was a totally different experience. I have never seen such large crowds in my life. There were people everywhere, many were dressed up but many people just had masks. It was a beautiful day out, warm and no clouds so we sat outside and had lunch. This was one of the best experiences because we could just sit there and watch all of the people go by. There wasn't just one type of person there. There were young people, older people, families and all different nationalities. It's crazy how something like this can draw so many people from different walks of life.

View down one of the canals

After lunch we just wandered the island. We had no real plan other than finding masks and making it to Piazza San Marco. The island was incredibly unique, the canals, the bridges, the mystique of Carnevale only added to the experience. The costumes that some of these people we wearing were very impressive. They were all extremely colorful, elegant and classical. By 5:00 we had finally made it to Piazza San Marco, thats how many people were there and how hard it was to make it through the streets. The Piazza was set up with a large stage and completely full of people. It was incredible how many people could fit on this small island.

One of the costumes for Carnevale

After, we wandered toward the water and took a water taxi back to where we started our day. There was no better place to be than on the water in Venice as the sun was setting. Once we got back on land we headed to a pub for happy hour until it was time for dinner. It's amazing how where ever you are in Italy you can always find a handful of Irish pubs. After this we got dinner at one of the biggest tourist traps I have seen, the worst part was that we didn't even see it coming.

Sunset on one of the canals

Carnevale has an amazing personality, during the day it is very interesting and relaxed, at night it turns into one big party. The island was still packed, but many of the piazza's now had DJ's in them just blasting music. Not only was this a lot of fun but it was again something I could have imagined. Overall, Carnevale was one of the best experiences I've had on this trip so far. The uniqueness of Venice and this celebration was amazing and something that everyone should do at least once in their lives.

Siena, Arezzo and Assisi

Ok so I apologize its been nearly a month without a new update. Over spring break I took time to collect my thoughts and here they are laid out in the next couple posts.

So, Loyola pays for 2 "educational" trips, (actually we pay Loyola to take us on these trips), one at the beginning of the semester and one at the end of the semester. We went on the first trip at the end of January, visiting Siena, Arezzo and Assis.

Siena was our first stop, three hours north of Rome in the Tuscan region. It was quite possibly one o the most miserable days to visit. It felt like it was in the upper 30's and raining the entire day. We toured the city, visited a few churches and the house of Catherine of Siena. By the end of the day the rain stopped and it became a little more bearable. It was a very interesting city, much different than Rome, much smaller, things moved a little more slowly and it seemed very peaceful. I definitely think it would be a totally different experience if the weather had been better.

After Siena we got back on the bus and headed to Arezzo for the night. The hotel Loyola put us up in was no two bit place, it was actually really nice. The next day we headed into Arezzo for a walking tour of the city. Again it was very different than Rome for many of the same reasons as Siena. We went to mass in one of the little churches, which was in Italian and very interesting and yes I could understand... some of it.

Later in the day we headed an hour and a half outside the city to a 900 year old castle in the heart of Tuscany. Castel del Trebbio was exactly what you think of when you think Italian wintery. It had a one lane road leading up to it with nothing else really around, just rolling hills. To top it off there was an 80 year old gamekeeper who had been in charge of the castle for over 55 years.

The Barrels in the cellar of the Winery

Then we obviously got to taste their wine, a pinot grigio and two types of chianti, which they are known for. Then after the tasting we made a quick stop to the store for gifts. Four bottles of wine and two bottles of extra virgin olive oil later we were on our way.

The guys with the gamekeeper at the castle.

The next day we headed to Assisi which is one of my favorite towns in Italy. The city literally sits on top of a hill and has the best views of the Umbrian countryside. We toured the Basilica of St. Francis, which was amazing. The paintings inside the basilica are one of a kind and indescribable. After we did a walking tour of the ancient city, got lunch and then headed back to Rome. Assisi was definitely the smallest, quietest and most relaxing of all the cities we visited, but it was extremely charming.

A view from Assisi

Overall it was a great trip. It's amazing how diverse Italy is and how each city and region really have their own personality.

Flying to Rome, an experience in itself

My trip to Rome began last thursday, Jan. 7th. We got to the airport around 1:45pm. Luckily I check in and checked my bags downstairs, which no else in the airport apparently knew about because it took less than five minutes. After that I headed up to security. I said goodbye to mom and dad and then got on line to go through security. After about a half hour I was through and at the gate. I was one of the only students to be there that early, but at least I was there. Slowly everyone started to show up and before we knew it we were boarding.

I boarded and found my seat. Being that I was the beginning of the alphabet I was one of the only people who wasn't surrounded by Loyola people. I had a very nice, but also large gentleman who slept very loudly throughout the flight. My seat was the center of the center section, easily the most uncomfortable seat possible. Earlier in the week I read a post by a friend who left for Ireland had tried the beef on the plane and it wasn't exactly the best. When dinner rolled around I figured that I would be daring and try the beef for myself to see what all the hype was about... He was right, it was awful, mushy, grey, but at least there was rice. Other than that the flight was pretty uneventful, I fell in and out of consciousness a few times, definitely no substantial sleep.

After eight and a half hours we arrived at Rome's Fiumicino/ Leonardo da Vinci airport. After being caged for almost nine hours we were all ready to go although none of us knew how to get where we were going. Luckily there was a tram, that took us from the terminal to passport control. Once we got there we were forced into four lines for not only our plane but probably about two other ones, easily a few hundred people. After about 20 minutes and a little line jumping we made it through. We picked up our bags met with Dr. Dawson (our program director who was flying in from Atlanta) and headed out to customs. I'm not completely sure what customs is, but here it was just a sliding door that separated baggage claim from the outside. We then met Aurora, our program's cultural assistant. She took us to the bus and before we knew it we were in Italy on our way to Rome.