Vatican, Perugia, and Assisi

Tuesday, I had my first big class presentation here. In cinema, Sara, Daniela, and I presented over the movie “Rocco and His Brothers”. At almost three hours long, it was quite the challenge to get through it. Plus, it had a really twisted plot, which just made us all really uncomfortable. But, of course we rocked the presentation!

Wednesday night, I went to an opera! Through the school we only paid 20 euro, even though the cost of the ticket was almost 50 euro! We saw “Turnadot”. Interesting story line, but I’m SO glad I googled it before-hand, otherwise I would have had NO clue what was going on! It was really cool seeing all the men in their tuxes and women in their long dresses with fur coats. I felt like I was Julia Roberts in “Pretty Woman”. Bonus! People really do use those little binoculars at operas! :)

During the final bow of "Turnadot"

Thursday’s classes were so relaxed that it’s funny! In Made in Italy, we had a class long discussion on the pros and cons of fast food vs slow food in a community. Then in Cinema, we finished watching “Rocco and His Brothers” (see first paragraph). Having already seen it, Daniela and I just made fun of it all the way through, trying to keep ourselves entertained, and I ate an entire jumbo bag of pistachios. Oops! Then while in Cinema, we got an email saying our Italian class was cancelled because our professor was sick. Poor Bruno! But it meant our weekend started even earlier!

Friday was super fun! Daniela and I went to the Vatican area and went shopping! We also kind of bopped in and out of Tara and Georgie’s apartment to see if they needed help with dinner (will explain this later). It was really fun wandering around a different area, because I would’ve never guessed there would have been so many shops! Then at 6:30 pm, we went on a night tour of the Vatican museum! It was so beautiful seeing inside the old papal apartment and looking at some of the most famous paintings and sculptures of all time! Plus, we got to go inside the Sistine Chapel! Its beauty is so breathtaking that it brought me to tears. It’s amazing that we got to stand in the same room where just months earlier a new pope was being elected. Pretty awesome I would say. After that, a bunch of us went back to Tara and Georgie’s apartment and ate dinner! They made Chinese food! It was so tasty and fun to all be together.

            

Saturday Daniela, Sara, and I got up and had to be at termini train station at 7:30 am! We hopped on a train to Perugia for the Eurochocolate festival! That day I learned something very interesting about Italy. They sell more train tickets than they have seats. So, the three of us got to spend the 2.5 hour ride there sitting on the floor! It was terrible, but funny to laugh about now. Once we got to Perugia, we had about a half hour walk up to the top of the hill where the festival took place. We got these cards where we could get free samples at a bunch of different stands! There was so many chocolate creations that my mind would never have been able to come up with! It was so much fun! But, of course you have to give yourself a chocolate break, so we took an hour and went shopping… Again.

There was a "chocolate couple" in the street! They looked so delicious, I could've taken a bite!

The look of pure happiness with all my chocolate purchases!

Chocolate kebab, anyone?

After the festival, we left about an hour before our meeting time to get back to the train station. Instead of ending up at the train station, we ended up at the bus station, which are 4 kilometers apart. As the meeting time got closer and closer, we started FREAKING OUT. We were not about to miss our train, but we had no idea how to get back. Finally, we gave in and just hopped in a cab. We arrived at the train station with just enough time to grab some McDonald's. Luckily, we did manage to snag seats for the ride back!

Overjoyed because 1) We got McDonald's. And 2) We got seats! Victory!
(Don't mind the MASSIVE bag they gave me. I swear it's just a burger and fries in there.)

We got back to Rome at about 9 pm, and we raced to get ourselves all beautiful for the evening activities. Luckily, everyone in our program met at our apartment, so we had a little extra time! We all went to a clubbing area about an hour walk from my apartment. As fun as it was supposed to be, I was so exhausted from the day that I left pretty early. Thank goodness I did because some of the girls in our group got in a little altercation with some very inebriated and angry Italian girls. At that point, I was sleeping like a baby!

            

Sunday morning, twelve of us met at school at 8:30 to go to the Umbria region. We arrived in Trevi at about 11. We picked the coolest time of the year to be there because they were celebrating the “new oil”. That weekend, the first of the year’s olives were picked, so the first batch of olive oil was created! It is a huge festival in the town, so a lot of the kids I was with bought some! Instead, I bought some celery. Strange, I know. But the celery in Trevi is grown so it doesn’t have the annoying stringy stuff in it. It BLEW MY MIND, so I just had to buy some. Best purchase thus far!

            

Then we drove a half hour to Assisi. I was a little nervous to go back to Assisi. I remember it being one of my favorite places last time I was in Italy. And you know how sometimes when you have such good memories about a certain place that you don’t really want to go back in fear of being disappointed? Yeah, that was exactly my fear. And yes, I was slightly let down. I mean, I still absolutely love Assisi. We saw the tombs of both St. Claire and St. Francis. But last time I was in the Church of St. Francis, I remember hearing the monks singing their Gregorian chants. This time, the church was loud because it was full of tourists. Kind of a let down but still beautiful.

Church of St. Francis

STORY TIME: While we were in Assisi, our tour guide stopped us outside of a pastry shop and said we had time to get something if we wanted. I tried to be different and not go with the typical gelato. I saw this really delicious looking cookie, and it was only about 2 euro! Perfect, right? So I ordered it, pulled out my 20 euro bill, and paid for the cookie. I noticed I only got a 10 euro bill and some change back. That’s right. I BOUGHT A NINE EURO COOKIE. In my dumbfounded state, I took my change and my new sweet investment and walked out the door. It was too late to turn back. So, now I have dessert for weeks. Yay for me!

            

Before completely leaving the area, we drove down the hill and stopped at a church that St. Francis himself rebuilt. We showed up at about 4:55, and mass was beginning at 5! It was the fastest tour of a place I have ever been on. We walked in, quickly looked, and power walked the heck out of there! Yes, we were running out of there while the beginning procession was happening, but it made for a good laugh!

We got back to Rome at about 9 pm, and I have only one thing to say about the ride home: Roman traffic is absolutely awful.

            

Then today, I officially went in and dropped my Mythology class. I’ve been avoiding it for a week now. But the professor understood and was really nice about it. Then in Rome Through the Ages, we went on a site visit to the Roman forum. It’s so cool to remember everything we talk about in class and then see it right in front of us! I loved it. After class, Daniela and I had to go shopping again! the new H&M opened up on Via del Corso, so we were pretty much obligated to go. (Don’t worry Dad and Mom. I am done shopping for awhile… I think.)

The Roman Forum

Now, I’m laying in bed, barely keeping my eyes open. I still haven’t recovered from the lack of sleep I got last weekend, but hey, I’d rather not sleep and get to experience as much of this place as I can! For the time being, buona notte!

Pizza, Police, and The Perfect Bun

Sorry, I've been so bad about updating this!

Monday night, I went to a pizza making class. It was at this apartment of these two gentlemen (who we think are lovers). We made ten pizzas and a cake! It was really fun, except it went really late, so at 10:00, they finally kicked us out! (Plus, they had a super adorable little puppy!)

Tuesday, my Italian class got to skip class to go register with the Roman police. We got on a coach bus and drove an hour away into the gypsy camps. (They were not at all what I expected them to look like. It's just a bunch of run-down trailers.) We sat in a waiting room for over an hour while Marco talked to the police and got all of our passports scanned. We did not even see a police officer while we were there, which I thought was strange. Then we ended up waiting outside the station for almost an hour waiting for the bus to come pick us up. When it did finally come, I thought Marco's head was going to explode! I've never seen him so angry, but he was trying to stay calm in front of all of us. Needless to say, the rest of the students no longer have to go to the station because our process was such a hassle.

Tuesday night, we had another family dinner at the boys' apartment. This time it was brinner! We had three different kinds of pancakes, French toast, and sausage. Plus, they made their own syrup because it is so expensive here! I was thoroughly impressed! Afterward, we went out to our usual bars, G Bar and Scholar’s for some karaoke!

Wednesday was a pretty chill day. I had class as usual and just came home afterward. That night, Theo and I walked around Piazza Navona for awhile. It was nice and a lot better than sitting at home writing papers!

Thursday was an odd day of class. My made in Italy class watched a movie, which was one of the weirdest movies I’ve ever seen. It was called “Stealing Beauty” with Liv Tyler. I was so confused because there was so much unnecessary nudity, and the story line was really strange! Then in my Italian Cinema class, we watched another movie. This time, I could not follow what was going on. About 20 minutes into it, I just gave up and started doing homework. Everyone agreed it was way too confusing. Finally, I had about 30 minutes before my Italian class started, and I was starving! So, a bunch of us went to The Perfect Bun next to school and had a nice lunch. I skipped Italian class, because you know what? I wanted to enjoy my nice lunch with my friends, not feeling rushed, and I hadn’t skipped a day of that class yet, so I didn’t feel guilty! So there!

That night, I went over to Georgie and Tara’s apartment near the Vatican. Eight of us girls went out to dinner, and we each ordered a half liter of wine. The waiter looked really confused and then just laughed. Yes, we are the stupid drunk Americans. Let’s just reinforce that stereotype a little more!


Friday morning, I woke up sick. My ears and throat killed! So, I slept pretty much the whole day and Skyped with my mom that night.

Today, I’m a little better. I convinced myself to get out of bed at noon and go to the store to get some OJ. Other than that, I plan on doing pretty much nothing! Hopefully, I’m better by tonight, so I can try to be social. But we will see!

My Awfully Beautiful Weekend

Friday morning, all of the AIFS kids met at school at 8:30 to drive to Pompeii. When we got there, we grabbed some lunch, and I bought an umbrella because it was raining off and on all day.

Pompeii was really cool. However, like most places, I was disappointed at how touristy the place had become. I expected the ruins to be more in their original state. Most of the artifacts and body casts had been removed and put in museums. But, I did see three different casts behind a gated area, so that was pretty cool.

Temple of Zeus with Mt Vesuvius in the background.

My favorite body cast we saw.

Probably my favorite thing about Pompeii was in one of the houses, there was a tiled floor with a dog on it that said, “Beware of dog”, which is very similar to something people have on their houses today!

"Beware of Dog"

That night we drove to the hotel, which was about 40 minutes from Pompeii, and a bunch of us girls crammed around two tables and had a big dinner together! You could tell the restaurant was a little overwhelmed with all us English-speaking girls, so I accidentally got veal instead of my chicken. But I ate it anyway! (PS- I have had my fill of veal on this trip already and would prefer to never eat it again, thank you.) Afterwards, we all hung out on a third floor balcony, which overlooked the Mediterranean Sea, surrounding towns, and Mount Vesuvius. It was gorgeous!

I took this on the drive to the hotel through the bus window. Isn't it pretty?!

Saturday morning, we had a 20-minute bus ride and 40-minute boat ride to get to the island of Capri. Capri is known for their beautiful grottos. Unfortunately, it rained the entire day, so the boats going to the grottos were closed. It was quite the let down. And, the second I stepped off the boat, a huge gust of wind and rain turned my umbrella inside out! Being the piece of cheap crap it was, it broke instantly, so by the end of the day, I had half a working umbrella!

 

My thoughts on my umbrella being half destroyed.

Since the grottos were closed, there isn’t much else to do on the island. So basically, we were stuck on an island in the pouring rain for 6 hours. Haha! We had some very grumpy people in the group by the end!

Ten of us climbed to the top of the island to take some cool pictures, and then I met up with some other people and we walked around for the rest of the time. In between the two, we grabbed some lunch. I ordered fried calamari and shrimp, and I learned a very valuable lesson. NEVER order shrimp in Italy. It came with the heads still attached. When the waiter set the plate down in front of me, I almost had a panic attack! So, I made Andrew cut all the heads off while I looked away. Sorry, but I don’t eat anything with a face! Lesson learned.

The group at the top of the island.

Finally, with 2 hours left in Capri, Georgie, Tara, Daniela, and I went and sat at a café to kill some time. I don’t think I’ve laughed so much in two hours in my life. It was so much fun talking about life, love, and how terrible the day had been!

With a half hour to go, it stopped raining, so we decided to start walking back to the meeting place. We were right next to the shore, and we had heard the water was super warm, so we thought it would be a great idea to dip our feet in the water! What a fun, innocent thing, right? Haha! Two feet from the shore, I slip and fall… Into the water. So, now I have soaking wet shoes, socks, and pants… Plus a broken umbrella… And then it started to rain again. Hahahahaha! Can you picture it? The whole day was so awfully laughable! Oh, Capri, I’m sure you are a beautiful place, but I really never want to see you again!

"Danger to fall in the sea"... Well you know what, sign?! You're about ten minutes too late on that warning!

Sunday morning, we checked out from the hotel and drove up Mount Vesuvius. The bus dropped us off about 1,000 meters from the top, and we walked the rest of the way. Oh my goodness, I thought I was going to die. You know that really steep hill at the Henry Doorly Zoo? Now imagine climbing it for a mile straight. Yeah. My booty is hurting today. But once I eventually reached the top, it was beautiful!

Georgie and I on the top of Vesuvius.

"I'm the king of the world!"

Afterward, we drove to Naples and grabbed some lunch. Naples (or Napoli) is the birthplace of the pizza. So of course for lunch I had to get pizza! And oh my gosh, was it good!

Naples as a whole I wasn’t impressed with. It is incredibly dirty and feels very unsafe. Luckily, we stayed together as a group and only went to a museum before we left. We rolled into Rome again at about 8:00 pm that night!

I know I made the whole weekend sound not-so-fabulous, but all in all, it was very fun. A lot of crappy things happened, but it made everything so easy to laugh at! Thankfully, I had a great group of friends who made the weekend totally worth it!

Movies, Wine, and Grocery Store Competitions

Tuesday night, I went on a night tour of the Jewish ghetto in Rome. It was really neat to learn about how the Jewish community was so oppressed for so long but have been able to thrive in the area still today.

An unexpected surprise we had was running into a movie set before our tour started! The area was surrounded by security guards, so we assumed someone famous was around! Unfortunately, that was not the case. (No Ryan Gosling for us!) But, we did find out that it was a British spy film set in the 1960s, so I hope we can find out the name of it soon!

Film crew setting up.

At the end of the tour, we ran into the director talking to some of the actors!

Wednesday night, I went to a wine tasting class at school. Our assistant director, Marco, has his wine certification or something. The whole thing kind of confused me. Haha! But the class was really interesting. We learned how to identify color, recognize smells, and understand what our tongues are sensing. Plus, Marco debunked some myths about wine that might upset my mother. Sorry, Mom!

Today's Italian class was actually pretty fun! Normally, that's the class I struggle with going to the most. It's my last class of the day, after cinema, and there is an hour break right before it! But today we checked our homework and then went to a nearby grocery store. We were split up into pairs and had to run around the store reading labels and writing down prices. It brought out my competitive side, especially when I found out there was extra credit involved! Unfortunately, we don't find out who the winner is until Tuesday, so I'll keep you posted!

But guess what? The weekend is here! Hoorah! Tomorrow we all leave for our trip to Naples and Pompeii, so luckily no one is going out tonight. (Good decision making, kids.) Tonight, I am going to the boys' apartment to help make homemade ravioli. (Ok, I will let those little chefs do the cooking, and I can look pretty and watch!)

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Oktoberfest... Prost!

Ready for the novel coming your way? Good.

Thursday after class, I ran home and had to start packing right away. We left for the bus stop at 6:30ish (thank God) to meet up at 8. It took us a lot longer than expected. We quickly found our bus2alps group, which is the company we went to Oktoberfest with and grabbed some McDonald's for dinner in the train station. (Side note, McDonald's gave me Diet Coke instead of regular, and everyone who knows me knows how big of a no-no that really is!)

Our twelve hour bus ride to Munich went pretty quickly. They played movies the whole way, and it helped that we were driving through the night, so I slept most of the way. We all woke up at 10 am when we got there, checked into Jaeger's Hostel, cleaned ourselves up a bit, and went straight to the festival.

I had no idea what to expect, but I was pretty happy. The whole festival is like a grown up version of Disneyland! They had game booths, rides, and beer. Lots and lots of beer.

Whoever said DisneyWorld was the happiest place on earth has obviously never been to Oktoberfest!

We made it into one of the tents, Hofbrau Festzelt (or HB), which we were told was one of the largest and most popular. Day 1 was great, but we came home around 7 pm to get our minds and bodies ready for day 2.

My favorite!

Our hostel was a lot nicer than I was expecting. It's just a room with 6 beds and a bathroom. Luckily, I roomed with 5 other kids in my program who came on the same trip, so I didn't have to deal with the awkwardness of rooming with strangers.

Saturday morning came VERY quickly. We woke up at 6 am, had breakfast, and went straight to the tents. We stood outside the HB tent from 7:30 until 9:00, which you have to do if you even want a chance at a table. Saturday is definitely the busiest day of the festival, and since this weekend was the last weekend of Oktoberfest, we knew it was going to be even more insane.

Some of the people waiting outside HB at 7:30 am. The lines of people were on all 4 sides of me!

At 9 am when the doors opened, I thought I was going to die. People started pushing so hard that I was struggling to breathe. But all that lack of oxygen paid off! We all dashed inside and ran around like chickens with our heads chopped off. We grabbed the first table we could find, and Danny walked around to try to find some friends of his from back home. A few minutes later, he came back and told us that he had found the other kids from our group who we hadn't seen all weekend! We sprinted over to their table, and luckily they had enough room for all of us! It was so great to see them. And I could not believe Danny was able to find them in a tent with 7,000 people!

Our table location was so perfect. We were kind of in the middle of the room. To one side of us, we had a table of Italians in their mid-20s. On the other side if us, we had a table of Germans in their early 20s. Within an hour, we were all mixed together, and we had such a fun day getting to know everyone! We sang, drank a few steins, and ate some of the most incredible foods I have ever had. (Seriously, try the roasted chicken. Oh em gee, yum!)

Me with Nick and Danny. They bought the full lederhosen, and I just bought a dirndl top! We had to take a matching picture!

Our table! To the left were the Germans and to the right were the Italians! Such a great group!

At 3 pm, everyone got kicked out to let a new group of people into the tent. Yes, I was super bummed, but then I remembered I had been inside for 6 hours already! Once we got kicked out, we knew there was absolutely no way we would get into another tent. I would have been fine walking around the rest of the day, but then it started to rain. And rain. And rain. I swear it never stopped raining the whole time we were there. That made me grumpy, so we decided to go back to the hostel. On the way back, we found Starbucks! Almighty, Starbucks! Our soaking wet selves have never loved American coffee so much in our lives! Once we were back some people took a nap and others just hung out for awhile. A little later we grabbed dinner. Then Nick, Candace, and I went out and explored the area a little. Other than that, our night was pretty relaxing.

Sunday morning, we woke up early again. Tara, Claire, Candace, and I decided to go visit the Dachau concentration camp. It was cold, foggy, and rainy. It really set the mood of the day. Unfortunately, by the time we traveled there and back, we only got about 45 minutes actually at the camp. We didn't see much, but I think I had had enough already. I couldn't even get myself to go see the gas chambers or crematorium. I walked around in silence the whole time we were there, and no words can really describe what I felt. Numb is really the only way to put it.

The front gate to the camp.

This yard was full of bunkers. It looked like it went on for miles. 

At 12:30 pm, we all climbed back onto our buses and started the long drive home. This time, the bus ride was terrible. I tried napping the whole way back to make the time move faster. But it didn't. Finally, at around 2 am, we got back! Such a long trip, but SO worth it. Such a great experience and so many stories that I don't have time to share!

I woke up from my nap home to see this. How pretty!

The Pope and I Are Becoming Besties

Last night, we had our second family dinner. Most of the kids in our program went over to the boys' apartment and ate pasta together. The cool thing is both times people have brought a friend over, so we get to meet other people outside of our program. I love our family dinners, and they are a great way for everyone to catch up if we haven't seen each other in awhile.

Tara, Daniela, and me at family dinner!

This morning, our school gave us the option to go to a papal audience. Unfortunately, it did count as one absence, but our professors totally understood, and some even cancelled their classes! It was so cool to see the Pope again. And this time, we got even closer! Cool, right? But we all dressed in way too many layers for how hot the day was. We very quickly all stripped off some layers after pictures were done.

The group that went to the Vatican this morning! Can you find me? :)

Tara, me, and Georgie. Yes, I realize I have two pictures of Tara in one post. I can't help that she's in a lot of my pictures and I love her so much! 

Told you we were close. This is also without zoom!

After the final blessing, 7 of us girls walked around for awhile. Then we spotted it. It was like heaven was calling down to us in the form of two golden arches. We all power walked towards the restaurant, and ordered ourselves some good ole American comfort food. I even crossed my fingers hoping for some ranch dressing, which was unsuccessful. But hey, at least I asked!

Nuggs and fries. What could be better?

After lunch, we went back towards Vatican City, which was still packed. We realized going inside St. Peter's wasn't going to happen today. (I guess we just need to pick a random morning to go inside, but it will happen eventually.)

When I got home, I was the only one at my apartment, so I showered and headed over to the boys' apartment. I spent pretty much my whole afternoon over there hanging out. We all just got back from dinner, and are planning on doing the touristy things tonight after dark. Some of the most famous sites of the city are the most beautiful at night! Buona sera!