day 14

Well today was pretty darn uneventful. To prove just how uneventful it was I took no pictures at all today. We left Rome around 11:00 for Florence, which in Italian is actually Firenze. The train ride was only about 2 hours. I listened to the pod and caught up on my journal. Then we got to florence, took a bus from the train station to our hotel. Hotel panorama. Sadly I got separated from my roomies, got 2 new ones. Whitney and Mary Beth, it should be quite the adventure. We do get internet here which is a plus, but we do not have air I don't think I am roasting right now actually. Also our room is nice and roomey but our bathroom is pretty small, and trailer like. I will post pics of it soon. I am just getting in the mindset that we are camping for the next 2 weeks. Anyway we got here unloaded a bit and got some lunch. Then we met at 4:30 and went on an orientation around town. We just split into groups and went on a little scavenger hunt thing, it was pretty fun. I tried some gelatto at a place called Vivoli's. I had strawberry, fragola, and it was pretty much the best strawberry ice cream I have ever tasted. So fresh and delicious. After that we went to dinner, had pasta of course, as well as potato wedge things, and some pork. Fruit for dessert. We walked down some streets and there is some serious shopping to be done here I am so excited. I saw the cutest black dress I wanted to try it on but no need to worry it was only 540.00 Euros, crazy!!! Now I am just finishing up my report. After tomorrow I will have no more reports to give here in Italy!! Anyway I thought I would post a pic of a street light because I love how random they are!!

Ciao

Day 13

Today Haynes and I went to Bracciano. A little city about an hour out of Rome on a lake. The town was fun and cute. We found our way around and attempted to go to the lake, lago. We asked this lady if which way to the lake, she pointed us and told us to follow her. She kept talking to us so much, I just nodded and smiled because I had no idea what she was talking about! She had another older older lady with her, and that lady was so funny and cute, she reminded me of Edna on The Incredibles, so funny. She kept grabbing my arm and saying stuff. They pointed is in a direction and we eventually saw some brown signs that said lago. We followed them and we decided to take a shortcut, well we were hoping it was a shortcut. It was one of the steepest hills of my life, lucky for us it was like a jungle so super shady and it was a shortcut. We made it down to the lake and waded in it for a little bit. Then we decided to rent a peddle boat. We cruised around the lake and Haynes wanted to tan so we just floated around. It was really fun, I love those boats, definitely something I would like to do again. Then we ate lunch at a little place on the lake, it was so cute. We cruised around the town and headed back to Rome. We attempted to find this little church, St. Maria in Travestere. We asked people and they kept giving us all sorts of directions. We finally got on this tram and 3 guys came and stood by me. They were speaking english, so I asked them if they knew how to get there. So we talked for a bit and they told me how to get there. They were from Boston and had been here since January, they were leaving today. So they were taking all there extra crap to a homeless guy. Haynes and I eventually stumbled upon the church and I got some new letters today so fun! Than we walked back towards St Peters because we could see the dome, we walked along the river so fun. Steve said we probably walked like 8 miles today, hah it was a long day. And I put sun screen on but my arms got fried. I bought a spoon for a girl in our group because they all went to Pompei today. Anyway than we had dinner, roasted chicken and I swear they gave me half a chicken, it was hilarious I was cracking up. Today we are heading to Florence, we leave to catch a train in half an hour. Here are some pics from the day.

The b image for my book, I think this is my favorite so far!!

Me cruising in the peddle boat, so fun but so hot!!

Haynes cruising in the peddle boat, he was so intent on getting a tan. And supposedly that castle in the background is where Tom Cruise got married??

The lake shore place we ate at, it was so cute, I was in love with it.

I tried this stuff called Gnochioli al Ragu or something. It was pasta but it was full of stuff, but not cheese or anything. I am actually pretty sure it was potato or something. But it wasnt bad, looked like cheese puffs or something though.

Me walking along the river, I love bridges, dont even worry Haynes shot it when I was not even looking at the camera, he hates shooting on 3. haha I am gonna kill him!

This was at the beach while we were eating lunch, this couple was getting some wedding shots done and I thought the little girl behind them completely oblivious was funny. Again this image is a lot darker on here than my computer so you can actually see the couple really good still.

Day 12 I think

Well I found a wireless connection down here in the lobby of the hotel, so I can't move my computer an inch or I will lose it!! But I can finally type on a normal keyboard again, hallelujah. Hopefully no one tries to turn on the TV because I unplugged it so my computer could charge! Well today we had a late start because it was a strike from the metro and buses. We were stuck around our little place and metro stop of Cipro. So we went to the little farmers market around here, it was fun. I had some delicious fruit for breakfast. Some strawberries and a banana. They were so good and it was cheaper than 2 euros, love it. Tried to take some pics at the market, got a few, not very good though because they would start yelling at us if you took one, super funny. Than Aubrey and I went cruising around shopping. I found some super cute heels, they were perfect too because they were not super tall, but they didn't have a size big enough for me, it was pretty sad. Really sad, I will be honest, I wanted them so bad. Oh well............. Then everyone met up at St Peters basillica at the Vatican. The place is huge, we went in the church and spent over an hour in there, I really can not believe how big it is. After a few reports we went to a new side of Rome that I never have been to before, it actually is quite old. I loved it, Haynes and I are going to go there tomorrow after we go to some little town with a lake and stuff. It should be quite the adventure!! We went to three churches there this afternoon, saw some more Bernini things. He is quite the man. Than I went to the grocery store and got some snacks for tomorrow. Had veal again for dinner, it was actually pretty good today. Lovin it, last day in Rome tomorrow, Sunday we leave for Florence, I am so excited! Lexi, I got your souvenir today, and I found a spoon mom. Azure I am still looking!! Love you all,
Ciao
Larissa and I at the market, so happy because we finally got to eat fruit again for breakfast, it was so sunny today!

Me in St. Peters, the place is seriously huge, it has been the longest Christian church for decades, I don't think it is anymore though. Me at a little temple thing, it is called Tempieto

Waiting for yet another bus!! Gotta love the pod.

Ps Nick I take offense that I look like a Chinese person, haha! And I will see what I can do about the shoes.

I got 2 maybe 3 new letters today for my alphabet book.

Another day, I seriously lost count

Long day again, we got going this morning and went to some more churches. Saw about 15 Caravaggio paintings this morning, which I love. I love his use of chiaroscuro and tenebrism, the lighting and stark contrast in his paintings are amazing. Pictures honestly do no justice. We also went to the piazza navona where I did my report on the Fountain of Four Rivers by Bernini. That was scary because I could not find the actual report that I had written this morning, so I just kind of winged it but I think things went well. The fountain is huge, way bigger than I imagined. Than I had my little lunch adventure with Haynes, see below. We all met up again and went to the Villa Borghese we saw some incredible sculptures by Bernini. I was extremely impressed by three. The David, Apollo and Daphne, and another one I think it is called Pluto and Persefanie. Anyway they were all incredible, the detail and textures portrayed, there was another sculpture that he did at the age of 11 that blew me away! It was insane, pics were not allowed in there so sadly nothing to show you. I bought a postcard though, you could look them up online if you are really intrigued! Than I went to see the Moses by Michelangelo, it was really neat, the intenisty and emotion portrayed in that sculpture is incredible as well. I met up with Haynes and Arianna, we all tried to get on the metro but the thing was stuffed I couldnt fit. Pretty sure that happened with 4 trains. I stood there in awe and stupidity as I kept being unable to fit on the train. There was a metro cop who kept walking by me and I wanted to know if he was laughing really hard deep down. The 5th train finally had a lot less people and I got on. Came home and on the way I got Gabby some really cute shoes. I opened the box when I got to the hotel though and one was a 27 and the other was a 28 so I am going back tomorrow to try and switch for 2 27s. I was laughing and it might be pretty difficult because she spoke no English, and I no Italian, oh well I will try. Had dinner, veal and french fries not bad. Than 2 other girls and I went to Piazza Navona where I bought my painting a beautiful street in Venice, I am so excited to get it framed and hang it!! I was choosing between 2 and I bought it from one guy it was 15 euros cheaper and I liked it better, but Stefanie wanted me to look at a painting from him she wanted so I had to go back over there. And he was like why dont you buy from me I would offer same price and he kept bugging me so finally I just said I liked this one better, the other girls started laughing so hard. Tomorrow we are going to go to a farmers market thing, I am pretty excited it should be super fun.

Ciao

The beginning image of my alphabet in Italy book.

Haynes wanted to try this pork sandwich, they have this huge cooked pig, fresh everyday and as you walk by they offer it to you to try it. The guy was Italian but he spoke english and quite well. So we went and got a sandwich, he prepared it for us, put some spicy stuff on it, not sure what it was, some olive paste stuff looked like mud, dried tomatoes and maybe something else. Anyway I quit looking at the stuff he put on and just tried it. It was actually really good and really cheap and than we talked about America and other things it was a fun little lunch adventure.
I look weird in this pic for some reason, can not quite put my finger on it but I am about to try the pig sandwich and be very impressed.
Nick these were the shoes I was talking about, do you still want them?

A pic for my portfolio maybe, the sun rise from my bathroom window!! The building is not quite the silhouette it looks like on this pic.

May 6th and 7th

So pretty sure I went to Tivoli yesterday, so fun! Such a cute little town but we got back so late that I did not blog........Trying to make up for it now. Class yesterday was good, we went to a lot of churches again. Four to be exact. It was fun, a lot of churches though. I actually saw the Ecstasy of St. Teresa. It was so incredible, Bernini amazes me, there is actually a little oval window up above the sculpture to let natural light in on her. You can not see it until you get close and actually look up for it. The clouds that she is sitting on are made of marble and look like something soft, like cotton candy almost. I was honestly so amazed that it was marble. We also saw a church by Borromini, the San Carlo Alle Quattro Fontaine and the ceiling in that building is amazing. I actually changed my mind and that is what I want my ceiling in my living room to look like. It is carved in and the images alternate, rotate and get progressively smaller. I am in love with it. Went to 2 other churches, we went to see the Moses by Michelangelo but the church was closed for lunch. So 13 of us went to Tivoli. It was about an hour train ride out of the city but well worth it. The little town was so stinking cute, it made me so excited for Florence and Venice. We leave for Florence on Sunday, I can not believe it has almost been 2 weeks already. Anyway we went to a Villa while in Tivoli and the place was amazing, so huge and the gardens were freaking amazing. Waterfalls, and fountains and flowers and such everywhere. I was in love with it. And hopefully got some good pics on my big camera. Got home around 10.

Slept peacfully until 4am, when our room got a rude awakening to pounding on the door. At first I thought it was the room above us dropping something, than my roomie Larissa woke me up and said Rachel, did you hear that pounding on the door, so my 2nd thought was oh crap fire. So I bolt up. We were sitting in our room creeped out when we realized that our bathroom door was open, so I ran to shut it because people can climb in the window. It took a good hour to fall back asleep and when I opened our door this morning there were 6 or so candies waiting for us, I was so bugged because we had to be up and ready to leave at 730 for the Vatican Museum.

Which leads to today, 730 we left to the museum. Waited in line til it opened, I think it was about 9. We went in and hauled through all sorts of art. It ranged from Egyptian art, to high Renaissance painting. I loved it, than we ate lunch. Then we got lunch. And hauled through more paintings, there is so much to see there. Seriously insane. We finally made our way to the Sistine chapel, which is huge. I can not believe that I was actually there today. I took a sneaky video of it for those of you who couldnt be there with me. I havent had time to load it up on the comp though. Then Larissa and I did some laundry, it was easy and I tried to catch up on my journal. Then I bought a sewing kit so I can attempt to fix my back pack. Dont worry I just bought it right before I came, a Lowepro camera bag for 80 dollars and the strap is ripping. Gay. Anyway just ate lunch but now I have a report to prepare for tomorrow. These are all pics from yesterday!! Ciao

Aubrey and I at Villa d este, so beautiful. I keep thinking we look like honeymooners haah.

Another pic of Aubrey and I in front of the biggest fountain, the thing was massively huge, especially for a backyard!

Saw this and documented because I probably will not make it to the factory, it is in Bologna and Steve says that is far away :(

Me in front of a fountain, kind of missed the fountain. hha oh well!!

Haynes and I getting gelatto after a long day of being the parents of 11 children. We were the ones in charge of coordinating train tickets, rides, times, etc. Stressful but so fun. So we sent the kiddies home and got some gelatti.

Pics

Okay today was a class day!! It was good, we went to about 4 churches. It is really neat to go and sit there and listen to Steve and learn all the history behind it, and I am taking killer notes so if in the near future, or even not near future, just the future someone should need a tour guide I will be very well informed and willing to come tour with you! After about 5 hours we ended class for the day. Stopped and got lunch at a place called Pastarita I had a marghareta pizza, so good, and a fountain coke! Pretty good, ice, tall, cold, no refills. But still amazing. Then (dad I fixed than for you!!) we 3 girls and Steve found another little church, the St Barberini. Its claim to fame is a Bernini statue at the apse of the church and it was pretty cool! Than we separated, I went and got my hat and wanted to try on shoes, sadly they did not have them in a 42, only a 40 2 sizes too small is not gonna work! I was pretty sad, they were such cutie little shoes. Green!! I love them! Came back and talked to mom and dad, and jess, pretty sure it made my day! Thanks for talking guys, sure do love ya. And here are some pics to make up for the lack of them yesterday.

For Jilli I put a pic of my living conditions. And those of you that know me know that I am always roasting hot, so the window in our bedroom is always open!! We have a balcony and I am actually considering sleeping out there one night.

The bathroom, you can not see it here, but there is a toilet and a beday on the other side. And yes I am showering with my flip flops!! Here we are Sunday going to church, most of us are here. Haynes apparently didnt want to stand close to me!! (ps I got my cutie little stone from him from the beach today, so cute!!)

Stefanie and I today in front of the Mausoleum of Costanza, one of Constantines daughters.

Today I was so brave, and tried pistachio gelatti, the right side. I however am not a fan!! I dont mind the flavor, it is fine, the chopped up nuts are what gets me!!
It is a pretty awful pic, but today I went and bought the hat that I loved!! Gonna wear it for real tomorrow though, so we should get some good pics of it tomorrow!!
Now I am off to play card games with the rest of the group. Oh also for dinner I had tuna pasta stuff, not bad. And than I had peas, carrots, and swordfish steak. It was not bad, I actually ate almost all of my peas, carrots and swordfish! Be proud dad! love you all

Ciao

boring day 7

Well not much to update today, and it has been a long night so I didnt have time to upload pics. Ill have to put one from today on my post tomorrow. I woke up and went to church this morning. Church was good, we had head sets and one of the missionaries translated for us. I was really tired though so it was kind of hard to concentrate. After church we just talked to some people adn took pictures. Than we met at 2 and went to Villa Borghese, a huge park. There were a ton of people there. Stefanie and I rented this bike thing, it had 2 seats and you both peddle and than it had a shade covering. I have a pic I will have to upload tomorrow, we cruised around for just under an hour. Than we headed over to meet everyone at the Pantheon. The pantheon is amazing, its huge and the cofers in the cement ceiling are incredible, really I want my living room to have a ceiling like this(check tomorrow and I will add pics to this post) . On our way Stef and I stopped at the Diesel store, I have been dying to, you know that diesel is made her and I found the cutest had I just might go back and purchase!! And my new favorite cologne, mens Diesel is freaking amazing, I could smell it all day. I might just buy a bottle to smell. haha okay just kidding. Than 15 of us went to Hard Rock Cafe and got some dinner, it took forever!!! But it was well worth the wait, now I am stuffed but pretty sure I am probably going to go eat a bueno!! mmm. I tried fanta again today and it is still a no go. Also the weather is getting seriously hot, I am not sure I can handle it, I was cooking all day today, but they were supposed to turn the ac on at our hotel today. love you all, hope you have a good day and sorry I was a slacker, check back tomorrow I should have pics!!!
rach

day 6

Tomorrow it will have officially been a week since I set out on this excursion, that is seroiusly insane! Today was quite the boring day, I did a whole bunch of nothing because I felt ill. I had baroque class at 930, we went to the Barberini Palace which is house to an art gallery, pieces travel to and from it throughout the year. Today I was privileged enough to see Judith and Holofernes by the famous Caravaggio. It was pretty incredible to see this work in person, it is huge, I had no idea it would be that large. His work is marked by his use of chiaroscuro and tenebrism, for that reason I love it. His use of lights and darks and the contrast that provides is simply put, amazing. I would like to convey this in some of my photos, and hope to find some harsh lighting over the next few weeks. After class we were headed to the beach to meet up with just about everyone from our group. We grabbed a bite to eat real quick, I had a chicken sandwich after I ate it I felt like crap. So I decided to ditch out and head back to the hotel because it was about an hour ride to get to the beach adn was not really feeling up to swimming anyway. So I went home laid down for aminute, the maids needed to come and clean though so I left and walked around for about 2 hours, I just cruised past a bunch of markets and stuff, and of course the fake men well not fake men, men selling fake stuff. Than I headed back home. Stopped in for a bueno and ended up buying a powerade and these cute little cookie treats, they are like a sugar cookie, in the shapes of a heart and a spade, they are so cute! The top is half covered in chocolate and the bottom is completely covered in chocolate. They are not very sweet but surprisingly amazing I love them! uh oh something else to add to the list of must haves in Italy ahah. Went back home and worked on some pics, than had a little nap, I was so tired and still feeling sick. People started trickling back from the beach so we all chatted and than we went down to dinner. I saw Haynes and he told me he got me a stone from the beach since I was feeling sick and didnt go. What a little cutie!!! Pretty sure dinner was amazing, and dessert Tiramisu was incredible!!

Here is an elementary school I ventured by today, I can not believe how much it does not look like a school. No play yard or anything. A few windows have paper cut outs on them but nothing remotely close to our elem. schools. Apparently they have school monday through sunday from 8 in the morning to about 130, and they all head home with about 4 hours of homework and 30 lbs of books. If I see someone leaving school Ill have to document that as well.Prettu sure this is what my dessert looked like prior to devouring it.

Our reaction to the amazing stuff, as you can tell I LOVED it!! I sat by Steve at dinner and he was laughing at how crazy I am. Also I started playing with some images today for my portfolio and independent study with Simon. This was yesterday in Assisi they had some amazing lilac trees (im pretty sure it was a tree???) Well tomorrow is church and the pantheon. Maybe a little shopping, yeah that sounds nice.

Ciao

Assisi, day 5

Well today was an early day, we met at 730 and caught a train to Assisi, the 2 hour ride was a nice snoozer though, luckily I slept because all the tunnels and stuff were killing my ears they had to pop all the time. So annoying. So just chilled and listened to the pod, that was nice! We got to Assisi and man it was crowded and talk about a town on the hill, the ascension was ridiculously steep. We went in to the church of St Francis, he is the reason the town is famous, brought the church down to the common people. It was cool. Walked around took some pics, hopefully got some good ones for my port. Than Cameron Stefanie and I walked up to this castle ruin, see pic below. It was quite the hike in the heat, but the view and the wind were great!!!Me in front of a cutie little door.

These cute german nuns that were talking and pointing to the St Francis church of Assisi down below!

I know it is hard to believe but it was so windy up there. Which was such a relief after the hike we had. so hot and sweaty!! And pretty sure I thought the pic had already taken so I stopped smiling and look like an idiot, oh well!!

Stefanie and I in front of the view, Steve failed to mention that we were blocking the view ahaha.

We left Assisi around 630 and finally got back to our metro stop, cipro at about 915. Just in time for a little dinner, I had some bread stuff with tomatoes on it, and I tried this potato ball thing, I failed to take a picture, that was dumb. Than we went home and crashed, I was so tired!! Love you all

Day 4 I think

Cameron and I at something do not quite remember right now.

So today I walked like ten miles but feel like I did a whole bunch of nothing. We tried to do a bunch of stuff but everything was closed. May 1st is Maggio day (may day) here, it is a Communist workers holiday. So we attempted a museum, closed. Pantheon, closed. Catacombs, closed. Lame. And after such a long day with Cameron and Haynes I wanted something familiar so resorted to McDonalds chicken nuggets!! mmmmmmhhhmmmm hahah. Pretty sure we got some good pics with the Colosseum and had some funn moments any way. I think it is all just funny and part of the experience. Haynes however was kind of freaking out, I was just trying not to laugh in his face at him. Than the 3 of us kind of separated, I just walked around with my Ipod. I was attempting to find the Trevi fountain again, (about an hour later I amazingly, but randomnly stumbled upon it.) On my way I saw a Diesel store which is something I have been wanting to find, but because of freakin May day it was closed!!

Went home and had dinner, than ended up having veal for dinner again. Not gonna lie, pretty sick. Than Stefanie and I went to town for some little treat. Got some gelatti, I tried caramel and I am not going to lie, not my fav. Pistachio is next on my list. We decided we were kind of hungry because dinner did not really fill us up so we went to this little cafe thing. Got a sandwich and a coke, she got tortelini and a water. The waiter was so crazy, he started dancing and playing with my hair, I was trying not to freak out, so gross. He actually looked like a little rat!! eeks sorry that was kind of rude! Anyway we ate, not good at all, and got our check, it cost stinking 27.50 € we were dying. My coke, 500ml cost me 6.50 about 10 American dollars, needless to say I feel like drinking water for the next 4 weeks. We left and we were laughing and dying at how much we just had to pay for freaking nasty food. Oh well you live and learn huh?

attempt to go in the pantheon, steve put his finger in the way on accident!!

Cameron and I at the pantheon trying to figure out what to do for the rest of the day, he thinks he looks like a homeless bum haha!!

Sweet new shot at colosseum again it is massively huge.

Cutie little street that I love!Tomorrow we are off to Asisi so I might be in too late to blog, it is a 2 hour train ride, but it is supposed to be amazing pics!!! Love you all!