Home

It is good to be home! I made it home yesterday and was greeted by my parents brother and Tammy who rushed out of a final and made the trip straight to Memphis. We then met my Grandparents at Huey's. My flight was uneventful and it was a nice evening to relax and be with family.

All Good Things Must Come to an End

All good things must come to an end and so the time has come for my adventrues here in Rome to end. I presented my last project of the semester today. It was by far the hardest project I have ever done, but I think I did okay. I have also turned in my keys and they have given me back deposit. I have a driver coming to pick me up at 3:30am in the morning to take me to the air port. I fly through Amstadam and scheduled a little bit longer lay over so that I can go see Ann Frank's house assuming everything is running on time.

I have really enjoyed my experiance here in Rome! I have learned a lot about my sell as well as I have seen and experianced many great things. I am greatful to have had the experiance to travel around to a lot of different cities and several countries. I was counting it up the other day and I think I have been to over 20 cities this semester. If that isn't a lot of travel and taking advantage of the situation the I dont know what is. I would recomend study abroad to everyone.

The next time I blog it will be from America! I can't wai to see everyone!

So Close!

I am getting very close to going home and I can't wait. I have been studying for finals and working on end of the semester projects almost none stop since Thursday. It has been hard but worth it. This is really the first time I have had to do school work since I got here so I can't complain to much. I can't believe I will in the USA this time next week. I am very excited about getting home not only to Memphis but Fayetteville as well! I am looking forward to eating at all my favorite restaurants, and eating all the American dishes I have missed to so much. I am also looking forward to celebrating Christmas with my family and New Years with my friends in Memphis. Hopefully we will also be celebrating a Hogs Liberty Bowl victory on Jan. 2nd. I am so glad they made it to a "big" bowl game this year. I have missed watching football over the last for moths and it makes me happy to think about watching the Hogs play when I get back.

Salzburg...Finally

So I just realized I haven't blogged about Salzburg. I hit the ground running as soon as I returned on Sunday and doubt I will slow down until on get on the plane next Wednesday. Yes you heard me right NEXT Wednesday. This time next week I will be in an airplane and only 4 hours from touching down in the land of the delta blues! I will be honest. At this point it cant come soon enough. I have way to much work do between now and the end of the semester and cant wait to have it behind me. This is by far the most stressful finals week I have ever experience. 2 Oral Presentation, 1 Final, 2 Paper, and 3 Perfect Drawing. I will make it though! I am just keeping my eye on the prize... MEMPHIS HOME on the 16th and Fayetteville HOME on the 19th!

Enough about my awful finals. Salzburg was amazing. It was super fun and relaxing trip. Our hotel was a very nice 4 star hotel with big comfy beds and an American Breakfast buffet ever morning. Ok, they were actually twin beds but considering the bed in my apartment in closer to a cot than a bed (lets just say my bed in Rome makes the beds at Kamp look plush) they felt huge and they were defiantly comfy with there big down comforters.

Salzburg is a fun quaint little city of 150,000. It is full of charm and even in the cold it is a joy to walk around. The Sound of Music Tour lived up to Catherine and I expected. We saw all the big sites and had a blast. We also saw the birth place, home and church of Mozart. It was pretty cool too!

Salzburg Snow

Well Catherine and I arrived safetly in Salzburg at 6:57 this morning. We went straight to our hotel hopeing to be able to put our stuff down and come back latter to check-in. We figured there was no way our room would be ready, but to our suprise it was. We went up to our room and took a little nap. We fell asleep to the Sound of Music (SoM) Channel. On this channel they play one of 3 things. SoM in English, SoM in Duetch, or the clips of the differnt SoM soungs. We are now getting ready to head out for the day and see a few sights. It should be a blast. MOre updates soon.!

Less than 14 Days

Yes, it is official. I am inside the 2 week mark! This time next week I will be over half way home. I haven't started packing yet, but I have started to think about how I am going to get all of my stuff home. I have bought a lot of cool stuff while over here and it is defiantly going to require me to purchase another bag to get it all home.

Although I am very close to being done I have got to stay focused on the task at hand. I have a lot of work to get done between now and Dec. 16th. I have 2 finals and 3 large assignments for my too classes that I must finish before I go home. I am trying to get as much done before leaving for Salzburg Thursday night, and will have to really work my back side off net week. I feel like I will get it all don't though. Thankfully I have Christmas music from WRVR and Ben Rectors new Christmas CD to work too.

On a music note iTunes has good Christmas songs as there free download this week.
1. Katherine McPhee- I'll be home for Christmas
2. Darius Rucker- Candy Cane Christmas
Both are good and work the download, esp since they are free!

A is for Athens

As you all know I was in Athens this past weekend and I really enjoyed it. It was probably my favorite place I have traveled to thus far. Athens is clean, friendly and fun. All of the people are very nice. They dont all speak a lot of English but they try to speak as much as they can to help you out.

Athens is also a foodies dream! I ate lots of kebabs and meat on skewer. For breakfast each morning I bought very large fresh doughnuts from vendors on the street. The first night I was there I ate a this locally owned family restaurant where the wait staff reminded me of the family out of My Big Fat Greek Wedding, I even saw a guy carrying around a bottle of Windex. When they learned it was my first time in Athens they brought be a free dessert of yogurt and honey. I also got to visit the Athens Central Market. It is a large market that is made up of there smaller markets; meat market, seafood market, and the vegetable market. Now, the market is not for those with a weak stomach or for those who don't like to think about where there food comes from but it is a really cool experience. There were whole animals skinned and gutted hanging up, pigs heads, the biggest pigs fee you have ever seen, whole livers, chopped livers, pork, and steaks. You name it and it was there. The fish market was neat too. It had all kinds of fresh and frozen fish. Squid, lobster, salmon, grouper, sardines, clams, oysters or sea bass; if it once swam you could buy it there. It was very fun and enjoyable to walk through the market and observe the commotion. I went back to the market later that day to have lunch in one of the restaurants located in side the market and had an amazing meal! There were no menus in this restaurant and the place was full of locals. I was the only American or tourist in the place. The waiter quickly realized I didn't speak Greek or know anything about what they served so he took me up to the counter, showed me what they had, asked me what I wanted and sent me back my table. When in 2-3 minutes I had a wonderful bowl of soup and a whole snapper (minus the head guts thankfully). All of this cost me only 7.80 Euro. I would highly recommend a meal in the market to anyone traveling to Greece.

Shopping! Why no one talks about the shopping in Athens in beyond me?!? I would put the shopping in Athens up against any city in the world. Seriously, New York Milan Chicago Dallas Atlanta, Athens has them all beat in my book. It doesn't matter if you want couture, designer knock, affordable shopping, touristy stuff, antiques or junk for a flea market, you can find it all in Athens. Sundays are by far the best day for fun and random shopping, none of the legitimate stores open, but all of the tourist shops are open and literally the entire city center turns into a flea market with everything from from antiques to knock of hand bags. These are the best knock offs I have ever seen too.

Oh Yea! Athens has lots or really great historical sites too and they are very affordable. As a student it only cost 6 Euro for me to see all 6 archeological sites and the new acropolis museum. They were all very interesting and I enjoyed them a lot more than the sites here in Rome. From a historical preservation stand point there has been a lot more reconstruction and intervention than you find in Rome. We can debate for hours as to whether or not this is good or bad, but I really appreciate the way they have preserved the sites.

On Sunday, I went to the Byzantine Art Museum. My visit was not so much about seeing the Byzantine Art, though it was nice, but about seeing the special Andy Warhol Exhibit they were having. It was very interesting.

I also got to see the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown solider twice. Once on Saturday and then again for the formal changing of the guard at 11 am on Sunday where there are more guards, a band, and people laying wreaths.

Despite my rocky start to the trip I had a WONDERFUL time is Athens. It was a blast and I would go back in a heart beat!

PS It is hard to believe but I will be home 2 weeks from Tomorrow.

Passport Nightmare!!!

So...for those of you havent heard the story or are wondering what is up withthe strange facebook post here it is. As you all know I was supose to head to Athens this morning. I packed last night and got up at 7 this morning. I gave myself and 30 minute window in case something went wrong, and I got out of the house 15 minutes earlier than I planned (and that is about where the good morning ended). I got to the elevator adn relized I forgot to grab my passport, no problem I thought I will just run back in a get it (I also thought man I am glad I relized that now). So I went back in the apartment and my passport was not where I kept it. I proceeded to turn my apartment upside down looking everywhere. Eventually I gave up on finding it and pulled out the photocopy of my passport and called my mom (it was Mid-night in the states mind you) to see if she thought I would be okay. We both thought/ hoped that the copy as well as my American Driver license would be enough since I was staying in the EU. So i proceed to catch the bus that took we to catch that the train that took me to the airport. I got through security no problem and to my gate. As i was proceed to board the plane the sweet lady at the desk looked at my documents and asked me if a I had a letter from the police stating I had reported the passport lost or stolen, I told her know I just lost it this morning. She talked to the man and the next counter and they said therewasno way they could let me on. At this point I was holding back tears as I continue to talk to kind man at the other counter abotu what i neeeded to do.

After talking to him I called my wonderful mother who had told me to call her when I got the airport with an update (at this point it is 3am in the us mind you). Sometime between my dad answering the phone and my mom getting on the line I just lost it and was bawling in the middle of the airport. She told me not to worry, go back to my apartment and look at getting a new flight. So I did. I was able to calm myself down and regain my compsure as I sat on the train and listened to my iPod. It real is amazing just how amazingly soothing a train ride is. I think it must be like what babies feel like when you put them in there car seat in the car and they fall asleep.

I got back to my apartment and began putting my apartment back together and thinking about just what I could have done with my passport. And the I remembered. I had put it in my coat pocket in Milan last week. Sure enough there it was in my coat pocket! After finding my passport I sent my mom a text telling her I had found it, and I began to look at new flights.

I am flying easy jet one of these cheapo discount airlines and they dont do refunds so I had to buy a whole new ticket to Athens. I made the purchase and 200 UDS later I will depart for Athens in the morning. I am trying to just look at this morning as apractice run. A dry run as my teacher Mrs. Smith use to call it in high school. She use to tell us about how growing up hermom would make them do dry runs of the first day of school before each school year started. I guess God just felt I needed a dry run on my Athens trip.

I should have known my mom wasnt sleeping last night because she called my 7 am Memphis time to see how things were goign and if I had found a flight. She really is amazing and I love her a lot!

With me in town there were 4 of us who didnt have family in town for the Holiday so my roomate who loves to cook tried to cook something that resembled Thanksgiving Dinner. We had Turckey and a fresh vegtible medly. It was very yummy and then we had Ice cream and Fresh Fruit Tort that I bought form my favorite pastry shop. I have been looking for a reason to buy one all semester and this seemed like as good as reason as any. After dinner we walked up to Piazza Nevona to see a Christmas Festival that we thought started today but apparently it doesn't kick off until tommarrow but it runs through Christmas so we will check it out again later.

Though the day started out pretty aweful it ended up being very nice. Plus, I will still be able to enjoy the weekend in Athens.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. I am so greatful for so many things at this point in my life that I could right a whole blog on nothing but that and perhaps I will later next week. To all my friends and family you mean the world to me and I miss you dearly. I cant wait to get back to the states and celebrate Chirstmas with each of you. I am bless to have learned so much about myself this year. Once again Happy Tanksgiving to you all.

PS I am using the computer in the apartment again and the speel check doesnt work so pleas forgive the spelling errors. In case you didnt know by now there are many things in life you can count on me for, but one of them is terrible spelling and another is that with out fail I will loose something. Luckly, though, I have gotten better about both of these habits with age. Perhaps if I live to be 100 I will out grow one or both of them!

Update

So not much has happened the last few days but I figure I will just give a short update anyway, if for no other reason than to stay in the habit of blogging.

This weekend was quite and low key. My roommates have there pre-final review today so they were stressing out all weekend. I had a few assignments to work on my self so to avoid the stress and tension that surrounded them I spent much of the weekend watching movies and studying in my room. Not the most exciting weekend ever but sometimes you have to get the non-fun stuff done so that you can play.

Speaking of playing, I am very excited to be headed to Athens, Greece on Thursday. It is going to be an amazing trip. I doubt I will find a Turkey dinner, but I do here they have a T.G.I. Fridays! I think I might check it out. They are one of my favorite chain restaurants back home and at least would be an American meal for t-day. Other than that I am going to sample all the Greek food I can and take in as may sights as one girl can 3.5 days.

Northern Italy was AMAZING!!!!

So if you are wondering why you havent heard from me the last few days it is because I have been on a trip through northern Italy and it was amazing. It was a class trip so I traveled with the 9 other people in my program and a professor. We were gone for 5 days and saw 4 cities Venice, Verona, Trento, and Milan.

We spent a day in a half in Venice. It was nice, but the weather was gray and nasty so I would like to go back one day and get a better feel for the place. It was very neat to be in a place that didn't have any cars or streets, just rivers (or canals) and boats. I didn't have time to go to the island of Morano to see the glass blowing as I had hoped, but I did get to buy some beautiful glass while I was there. Because of time and other people on the trips tight budgets we opted for a short cheap gondola ride across the canal instead of a nice, long, expensive ride around the city. It is nice to say I had the gondola experience, but I would have much preferred the nice gondola ride. Ours felt more like an overloaded canoe with a driver in a stripped shirt.

Next we went to Verona. The night we arrived in Verona was by far the most fun night I have had this semester. We were staying in a very nice hotel with a really good festival going on down the street. The festival highlighted the different foods from all the regions of Italy. There was a band playing and a booth that was making really amazing sandwiches. We spent the evening listening to the band and enjoying the atmousphere. The next day we toured Verona and saw all the sights including the house that is said to be Juliet's House from Romeo and Juliet.

The next day we went to Trento. Trento is the city where the Council of Trent was signed and the Counter Reformation began. We spent the morning in Trento visiting one of the largest construction sights in Italy. They took very good care of there by providing us with boots and hard hats to wear on the job site, and they gave us free lunch. The project is by world famous architect Renzo Piano. That afternoon we went and saw a few sights around Trento.

We took the train to Milan where we checked into the hotel, grabbed some dinner, and went to bed after a long day of traveling and sight seeing. On the final day of the trip we toured Milan. It was fun to see another city and to get to go on top of the Duomo, but over all I was not just overly impressed with Milan. It just felt like another big city to me. It didn't even really have the historic charm of Rome, though its public transit was much better!

So here I am at Wednesday just now stating my week thanks to my trip. Lucky for me my week ends tomorrow because we don't have classes on Friday. We do however have a regional field trip. I am looking forward to it. My roommates and the other students however are not looking forward to it because they have a review next Tuesday in there studio class and are very stressed. I am extremely grateful that I am not in studio and do not have to worry about it.

A New Outlook

So yesterday I (well my mom actually did the work, thanks again mom) changed my flight from the 22nd to 16th of Dec., and today I had a really good one on one with my professor. In my one on one with Davide, my professor, we went over my exam, which i did well on(he said I needed to watch my spelling surprise surprise), and discussed both of my projects for the end of the semester. The drawing project I wasn't worried about but the research project on the other hand was totally stressing me out. He was very helped me put more direction on my research project and helped me find more sources. I now feel like I can actually do the project and do it well. I am very excited that my flight was changed. I know 6 days isn't that long but there is something about being able to say I go home in 35 days instead of 41 that just makes it seem like my time here is a lot shorter.

Changing my flight combined with the great meeting I had with my professor has given me a whole new outlook on the semester. I know feel like I can make it, have fun and do well. Before today I wasn't so sure most of the time.

I am also very excited about all the things that lie between here and going home. I have no doubt they are going to make the time fly by. I leave on Friday for 5 days in Northern Italy. Next Friday I have a regional field trip. I am going to Athens for 4 days over Thanksgiving. The First weekend in Dec. I will be in Salzburg on a Sound of Music tour, and the last Friday before finals I am signed up to take an amazing 5 hour Italian cooking class. Needless to say the rest of the semester is going to be pretty awesome!

Great Lunch

Since I wasn't traveling this weekend I decided to treat my self to lunch at the fancy restaurant down the street from my apartment. It was Amazing! I had a 4 four course meal (aka way to much food for lunch) and every course was fabulous. I started with a Salmon Salad. It was like tuna salad but with salmon. The I had a fresh fish salad that was very yummy. It had fresh squid and some sort of onion celery crunchy type vegetable with lots of fresh herbs and of course Olive Oil. For the main course I had veal wrapped in ham and boy was it yum-o! The final course was a lemon sorbet with basil, and it was wonderfully tasty. Over all the meal was a great time and I am very glad that I did it!

Just a little update

It has been a pretty low key week here in Rome. My package from home finally got threw customs and arrived on Saturday. It was like Christmas! (Not really but I was very glad to have the stuff inside). We didnt have class on Monday but we did all go to Dinner with Dean Shannon (the Dean of the School of Architecture) It was a really great meal and we had a lot of fun. I really enjoy it when people from the states come to visit. It is a nice breath of fresh air!

Wednesday we had class at the Vatican Museum. It was alot of fun and I kept having these "Oh Yea" Moments. Where I was like "Oh Yea I remember seeing that when I was here in high school" I enjoyed the visit.

Today was Thursday, and well lets just say as usual Thursday class was miserable.

I am here in this Rome this weekend so it should be another relaxing weekend.

Sundays

I really like Sundays here in Rome. For some reason things seem much less touristy and everything is a little bit more chill.

This morning I got up to go see the Pope bless the crowd on St. Peter's Square. He bless the crowd at noon and I got there at about 10 so that I could have a good spot. Well no one was there, except for the 100s of people running the Rome Marathon. Who knew the Rome Marathon and the NYC Marathon were on the same day or that the starting line was St. Pete's Square? Not me! It was a fun little surprise and it was fun to get to be a part of the hustle and bustle. I had planned to grad a quick breakfast on my way to the Vatican, but because of the Marathon and the fact that it was Sunday morning nothing was open. I finally found a place and spent 8 euro (yea, I don't know if you have been following the exchange rate lately but that is like 12 bucks), on a pastry and a drink at one of these tourist trap vendor stands. Everyone and there mother knows not to but stuff from them but it was the only place open. After getting my breakfast I found a place to sit in St. Peters Square and read my book. Come to find out there was no need for me to be early because the crowd doesn't really show up until 11:30 but it was a very nice a relaxing morning.

At noon the Pope made his apprentice in the window of his apartment. He spoke for about 10 minutes in Latin (I think). I did recognize them saying the Hail Mary and one point and then he put his hands out for what I assume was the blessing. He then spent about 15 minutes speaking to the different groups there native tongue. He spoke to English speaking people and told us something about praying for those who have gone before us (I think) and then he spoke to Italians, and Spanish, and Dutch, and Polish. Is accent was so think that I really didn't understand what he was saying even when he was speaking English but it was still pretty cool.

This afternoon I came back and took a nap and went to internet church. Once again I really enjoyed it. If you are ever at home on a Sunday and can't make it to church you should check it out. www.crossoverworship.com Services at at 11am and 8pm central time.

Im Excited!

I haven't blogged much this week because it has been a pretty boring week with this whole design workshop thing. Since I am not participating I have slept late and begun gathering some stuff for Grad School. In other words not an exciting week but a fairly productive one.

Yesterday, we found out that class on Monday is canceled because our professor is still recovering form surgery. This means I have a little extra time on my hand so I decided to see if I could find somewhere to go. I looked into Venice because I have feeling I am going to want more time there than what I will get when I go with my class. I decided against it because it was just going to be more than I was willing to spend for 48 hours.

Then I began looking for cooking classes I have been thinking about taking a cooking class for several weeks. So with my moms help I was able to find what looks like a very good cooking class. They only do them on Fridays so I won't be doing it until Dec. 11th. That is the last Friday before finals so it will be a very nice way to end my semester. It is crazy to think that, that was my only free Friday between now and then. Between now and my cooking class I will spend 4 days in Athens, 5 days in Northern Italy, and if all goes as planned 3 days in Salzburg. Oh yea I still have class 4 days a week and several Friday field trips planned as well. Basicly this last half of the semester is going fly by (Wednesday marked the official half way point)!

Good Start

This week has started off very well, and appears to be shaping up into a very nice and relaxing week.

On Sunday I went to church on the internet. It was really cool. No it isn't as good as the real thing but for a student who is studying abroad it gets the job done and is a huge blessing. For those of you wondering what kind of crazy stuff goes on at internet church, this is how it works. The church I go to in North West Arkansas, Church at Pinnacle Hills, started an online worship ministry. Since I was in Rome on Sunday I thought I would try it out. To attend you go www.crossoverworship.com Just before the service time the online minister will launch the broadcast and come on his webcam to welcome everyone. You can log into the chat portion of the website before the service if you wish. Then when the service starts it plays on your screen. During the offering, Chirs, the online minister stops the broadcast and comes to you via his webcam to tell you how you can tithe online and asks you till fill out a connection card online just as if you were at church for real. Then he sends it back to service. During the invitation at the end of the service Christ comes back on and speeks to us one last time. No, it wasn't real church but it was very nice to come together with a group of believers for worship.

Yesterday I got all the paper work taken care of to get my package out of customs and today I got the fees payed. Lets just say this package has been a cultural adventure and I will never again look at Cheetos without thinking about Italy.

We started the Roma Tre Workshop today. It will be an easy week for me but a very busy and stressful one for everyone else. I am not participating in the workshop, but have been asked to write an article for it so I will be in and out from time to time at the workshop. Other than that I dont have anything I have to do this week.

After lunch today I went and got gelato. It was the best I have had yet. There was a line out the door the entire time I was at this place and I bet it took me 10 minutes to get my gelato.

The weather has been beautiful here so far this week.

Graduate School

I have made a decision. No, I don't know where I am going but I have decided where I am going to apply. I have chosen 5 programs. 4 of them are 2 year Masters in Higher Education programs and the other is a 1 year masters level program of the study of the Bible and what ministry looks like in you daily life. At this point there is not a front runner among these programs. I am excited to see over the next few months where the Lord will put me. I hope to make a decision by mid March as to where I will be next fall.

As many of you know I love tradition and do not always handle change well so you prayers for guidance and contentment over the next few months with regard to my decision for grad school are greatly appreciated.

So without further a do here they are...

Colorado State University
Kanakuk Institute
University of Arkansas
University of Georgia
University of South Florida

Football

What I wouldn't do to watch just one down of Razorback Football!

With all of my closets friends on a bus Rollin' with the Razobacks to Oxford to watch the Razorbacks take on Ole Miss, and a beautiful fall day here that just begs to be spent in a football stadium it is safe to say I truly miss Razorback Football. I am however grateful that the Razorbacks are playing a morning game and I am in Rome this weekend so I will be able to follow the game via the play by play updates live on ESPN. I got really excited for a few minutes this morning when I found out the game is being broadcast on ESPN360.com, and then I found out that Italy is the ONLY country in Europe that does not support the broadcast. ARE YOU KIDDING ME! But as I mentioned earlier at least I have the live updates on ESPN.com.

I feel good about this game and after the great show the Razobacks put up last week I think we can win!

To those of you who buy me Christmas gifts 2 tickets to whatever bowl the Razorbacks are playing would be the BEST Christmas gift I have ever received. Just so you know!

To those of you I told I might call during half time, it doesnt look like that is going to happen because our wireless internet is out so my IPhone is out of commission today.

Happy Birthday William!

Today is my cousin William's brithday! He is turning 9 and since it is his special day I wanted to give him a little shout out. He is having an ATV birthday party, which sounds pretty cool to me. Happy Birthday William! I hope you have a great day and a lot of fun at your birthday party!

In other news...
I have survived mid-terms. They werent aweful but they weren't super fun. The best part is that they are behind me. It is rainy here today, but it made for perfect nap. Which was nice since I was up till 3 am working on one of the most rediculous projects ever.

We are headed to Hadrians Villa for the day on Friday. It should be a nice way to end the week and then I will have a quite weekend here back in Rome. I think I might go see UP in Italian. I wont understand what they are saying but the music and the story are so good I dont think that it will matter.

Happy Birthday Nana

So it has been a very busy week here in Rome. It is mid-term week. I have had 4 mid-terms this week 2 for each class. I have finished 3 of them and have 1 left on Thursday.

I went to Cinque Terre the weekend with my friend Catherine. She was a year behind me as St. Agnes and is here for the semester with John Cabot University. She was a wonderful travel buddy. We had a great time. We saw all 4 towns, and completed 3 of the 4 hikes. It was beautiful and the weather was very nice. We stayed in a little town that only had one restaurant. It was so nice to be a a quite tranquil place. You don't realize just how hard the city is on you until you are away from it. The trip was amazing and I hope to post so pictures this weekend after things slow down.

Today is my grandmothers birthday! So Happy Birthday Nana!

More Pics

the Duomo in Florence, Ponte de Vechia, and St. Peters

Movie Night!

Yesterday was a fun day and today is shaping up to be pretty good as well.

Yesterday class was pretty low key and we got out early. I was suppose to meet a friend at Old Bridge Gelateria in Vatican City for gelato, but her test ran late and she didn't make. I didn't really want gelato any way so I grabbed lunch. As I was walking the Vatican City I saw a place where you can buy 10,000 Rosaries for 60 euro. This made me laugh. 10,000 roeries what is any person going to do with that many rosaries. I am pretty sure that is enough to give 2 to every person I know and will talk to in the next year. Another thing that made me laugh was the couple that sat next to me at lunch. They were from the UK so I understood every word they said. They were on a cruise and had to be back at the boat in just a few hours. She was very worried about getting back on time and convinced her husband was wrong and she was right about where they needed to go. I am pretty sure he was write and that they probably got lost after leaving the restaurant. There exchange at lunch also made me chuckle.

When I got up from my usual afternoon nap, at like 6pm (I didn't go to sleep till like 4 but still) I decided I wanted to make it a movie night. I began going through iTunes looking for a movie to rent. I choose Away We Go and began downloading it. While it was downloading I set out to find popcorn and get dinner. I wanted to make kettle corn and was not sure I would be able to find pop corn kernels but I did. When I got back my movie was done downloading and I made my kettle korn. It turned out really great considering the poor condition of our stove. Movie night was a great success and I am going to have to do it again.

Today my class was canceled because everyone else has mid term reviews. This has allowed me to sleep in and now I can have a lazy day.

A few pics too

I ment to give you a few pics in the last post so here you go.


This building is the Laurentian Library, and the other picture is a pic of me in front of the Hog Statue. In Case you have forgotten we beat Auburn 44-23 that day.

Florence

I spent this past weekend in Florence and it was a ton of fun! We left by train on Friday morning and arrived in Florence at about 10 o'clock. We got to see all the big sight including the Duomo, Santa Maria Novella, the Laurentian Library by Michael Angelo, and the brother to Drooling Hog Statue on campus.
I also spent ample time in the leather market and bought lots of really cool Christmas Gifts. The purchase I am most excited about did not come from the leather market, but from a very famous leather shop called Misuri. They are famous for their gilded leather and the purse they designed for the queen. When I was here in high school I bought a belt and have loved it ever since. I was hoping to purchase another buckle for my belt, but they were so friendly and gave me such a good deal that I ended up buying a whole new Belt. Special thanks to Dean Maness from St. Agnes for giving me directions before I left this weekend I would have never found it without her help.
This weeks classes should be pretty low key. We are going to spend a lot of time studying St. Peters, and figuring out what needs to be done to prepare for mid-terms. I probably wont be seeing much of my roommates because they have mid-semester review for studio on Thursday. I am extremely gratefull that I do not have to take studio while here. It is allowing me to enjoy my experience 10 times more than I woudld have if I were in studio.

Update

I figure it has been a few days since my last post so I better update the world on what is going world. It has been an average week here in Rome filled with class site visits, and the first day to sleep-in in about 3 weeks. That great day came today. I slept until 11:00 it was amazing. This afternoon I went to lunch with my friend Mary Beth and then went to class at 4. WE had class at 4 because we did not have class this morning. Things I have setteled into a routine here which is nice. Tomarrow is Thursday which means the worse class of the week. We are meeting out on a construcation site for a new government build wich will be pretty cool. Hopefully the professor isnt planning of also lecturing becasue the site is about an hour away from the class. But this woman is crazy so who knows.

I am looking forward to this weekend. We are headed to Florence. It should be a wonderful time! This week I have also booked my Thanksgiving trip to Athens, and my weekend trip with Catherine to Cinque Terre. Both should be amazing trips. I plan to book the trip to Salzburg next week.

Orvieto

Ahh! It was a wonderful and relaxing weekend. Orivito is a quite little town, that is allmost 100% car free. The streets are small and a joy to walk. The big must see sites are very few. There are really just 3, the large cathedral, the old cathedral amd the bell tower. It is the little side streets and beautifully average mid-evil and renissance buildings that make you feel like you are on a movie set that really make Orvieto grand. It was an amazing escape from the city! I got to sleep in full size bed which was amazing, esp. considering that my bed here in Rome is a little less than a twin. We couldnt have ordered more amazing weather. Cool and Crisp, perfect for blue jeans and a light sweater.

We also traveled to Perugea for the day. It to was a lovely destination with a movie set feel. The we visited an entruscan well and a museum that contained may regligious art pieces. The day was very enjoyable.

Sunday we visited a few small towns to tour a small museum and see a Roman Theater. Both were very interersting and we returned to Rome mid afternoon. Over all the weekend was very enjoyable and a lot of fun.

This week should be a very nice one. Today we didnt have a tour, but a very interesting lecture. Wednesday our morning class got moved to late afternoon, so I will be able to both sleep in and enjoy lunch with Mary Beth.

We are jet set (more like train set) again this weekend and off to Florence. We are all looking forward to a lot of shopping and word on the street is that there is a Taco Bell in Florence as well.

Just a Short One

Today was another good day in Rome. We went to the EUR, the poriton of Rome build by Musolini, for class. This afternoon I had lunch with my friend Mary Beth. We worked at kamp together the last 2 summers and we love or weekly lunch dates. Tomarrow will most likely be a long day because it is my least favorite class, but as soon as I get it behind me the weekend starts. We are leaving Friday morning for a class field trip to Orvieto. It should be another fun filled weekend.

Oh! And I got Ice Tea again today! How lucky am I, I guess if i were in Arkansas it would be smart for me to play that new lottery?

Movies and Ice Tea

So tonight my roomate Deborah and I we nt on a little adventure. We decided to go to the movies. There are a few theaters here that show movies in English so we went to the The Informant. The movie its self was okay, but it was great to watch something in English and the theater was very nice. I was even more excited about the movie when I relized they had fresh brewed ICE TEA. NOw it was lemon flavored so it was more like an Arnold Palmer (Ice Tea and lemonaid mixed together), but it was still amazing, esp when you consider it is the first thing I have had that resembled ice tea in nearly a month. We had a grea time and will def. do it again.

To all of you who are dying to see pics from Naples I promise they are coming.

Another Big Weekend

This weekend was another big one. I traveled to the Bay of Naples on a class field trip. It was a lot of fun and we saw all the big sites. I took a lot of pictures and will try to get some posted for all of you in the next few days. We started out on Friday by taking a train to Naples. I was not all that impressed with the city of Naples its self. The city was dirty, smelled and looked old. Yes, everything here is old but most of it looks historic, but Naples looked run down 1930s old. It had lots of high rise condo buildings (high rise takes on a new meaning over hear, they were about 10 stories high), grafitti, and loud traffic.

While in Naples we visited an art museum that is located in an old palace. It had many interesting pieces of art from the 15 and 16 hundreds. Several of the rooms were left as they would have looked when the palace was being used as place a residence. We grabed some lunch and then went to an anthropological museum. It contained several pieces of art, sculpture, frescos, and other pieces that had be collected from sites such as pompii. Once we finsihed up there we all boarded our bus and wen to Sorento to check into the hotel.

The hotel was nice but the view and the area around it was even better. We were 1 block from the Mediteranian Sea, and surrounded by the beauty of a slower paced life out side of a major city. We ate dinner over looking the Med, Sea and spent the evening ahanging out in a pizza that over looked the sea as well.

Saturday we went to Pompei. I was amazed at how large it was and that is was not govered in ash and hardened lava. Once I took a moment to think about it, it made since. Of cource is wouldnt be covered with cooled lava and ash. The lava and ash are what protected it and what we see is what they found when they removed the ash. I did not know that Pompei was a such a large city though. It was apparently a tradign hub for souther Italy. Its proximity to the Med. Sea made it a vital trade center for the world.

After eating lunch at Pompei we all decided to go to the top of Mt. Vesuvious. We spent 9 Euro on a bus ticket to take us there and when when we arrived we had to pay another 5 Euro to climb to the top. The whole experiance is without a doubt a tourist trap, but it was ver interesting and worth it none the less. It was a very steep climb and we were all very tired by the time we made it back down to the bottom.

SOn sunday we visited a Palace that is know as the Little Versi because of its style and it gardens. It was a very interesting and beautiful palance, but haveing been to Versi I dont think they can even be compared. THese gardens were beautiful, but Versi was much prettier even when I was there in teh middle of March. (Perhaps I am becoming an travel snob, but whatever). The palace was very nice and a relaxing way to finish the tour.

This week should be pretty low key, but this weekend promisses to be another big adventure as we take a field trip to Orvieto. Dont ask me whywe are goign to Orvieto or why we are going because I dont know. I guess we will find out this weekend.

Fun Week!

Well I have had another fun week here in Rome and am gearing up for another great weekend! Chancelor Gearhart, the Chancelor of the University of Arkansas, was here this week to sign an agreement to extend the university's partnership with Roma Tre University here in Rome. He spent some time experiancing class with us and we had a very nice reception last time to honor his presance and the 20th anniversary of the Rome Study Center. It is always nice to have a familer face around and his was no exception. He and his wife are very friendly and I was glad to see them again. It has been great fun to work with him over the past year and a half. In my option this trip is just another example of how he dedicated to the students and a moto of Students First. With only 10 students in the program this semester and only 7 being form Arkansas he could have choosen to come next semester or sent a representative on his behalf, but instead he came to see and visit the program himself.

Beyond the Chancelor's visit there have been many other great adventures this week. I started out the week by visiting The Forum as part of class and since my ticket also included the colloseum I sept the afternoon visiting the coloseum. Both were very interesting and I took about 100 pictures. It is neat to see the years of history litterally stacked on top of one another and think about what the forum must have been like in its prime. Admitedly after a few hours it all just starts to look like old ruble and debry, but if you can stay focused one could spend years studying all there is to see in the forum.

Yesterday was spent enjoying 3 very interesting churches. The first was the oldest round church in the world. The second was a colliester, and the 3rd was a site where 3 different churches had been built on top of one another over the years. Each of these sites were different and unique and I truely enjoyed it. The fact that it was a perfect day weather wise doesnt hurt either.

Today we visited the modern art museum. While the museum its self was wonderful, class was misserable. We spent an hour getting there becasue it was far away and our teacher didnt really know hwere she was going. Once we got there we enjoyed the museum for about an hour which is nice to get a little taste but not enough to truely enjoy the museum. With about an hour and a half left in class we begin to head back to the ROme center knowign that when we returned our professor had a lengthy lecture she intended to give. After a long walk, 2 bus rides and another hour we made it back. At this point we only had about 25 minutes of class left and thought surelly swh waws just goign to let us go because there wasnt time for the lecture, but no! Instead she shortened her lecture to about an hour and let us out of class a half hour late. Needless to say none of us were very happy becasue we all had lunch plans and all of my classmates had class they had to get to as well.

The best part of the week is still to come. We leave tomarrow for the Bay of Naples, and will spend the weekend there. We are going to see Sorento, Pompei, and several other amazing sites. It should be a wonderful weekend!

Best of luck to all my friends in ASG this weekend at your retreat. Work hard and have fun; I hear Tammy, Erica, and Jessica have been working very hard this week to make it a productive and fun time!

I Just Dont Think This is a Loud Minority

Yes, as I think everyone who reads this blog knows, I am unashamedly conservative. While conservative I dont tend to blog or my facebook about my views, and when discussing political, economic, and domestic issues I dont usually try to impose my views on others, but instead I try to learn about and respect the other side. I am even currently reading Obama's book The Audacity of Hope in an effort to better understand our President, where he comes from, and what he believes in.

All of this said I do want to share an artilce about the friendly and peacable protest that took place in DC last week. It was one of the largest in our nations history and went by with very little attention from the media or the democratic party. In fact the White House refused to comment, and the Democrats on the hill dismissed the protestors as a loud minority. Here is a link to the article in The Washington Post.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/12/AR2009091200971.html

If you feel the need to comment about this article on my blog that is fine. I just ask that you keep it clean and respectful. Overly angry or negative post from my friends on the right or left will be deleted.

Wonderful Weekend

So, here you go. The post you have been waiting on since Wednesday. This weekend was the best yet. My visits to Tuscany and a 12th century castle for a wine tasting were probably the most fun I have had since I got here.

On Friday we had our first regional field trip, and we went to visit the narcropolis' of two small Etruscan Towns (Tarquinia and Cerveteri). We didn’t really know what to expect. We just met at the train station at 8:40 so that we could leave at 9 as we were told to so. We had assumed that we were going to take the train since we were meeting and the train station and that is how you get places over here. Boy were we wrong! After walking half way down the train station we went out a side door and began to questions our professors sanity, we walked up to a 50 passenger charter bus and were told to get on. Now you are probably thinking to yourself "Megan, so what? Lots of people travel on charter busses when touring” Yes this is true but keep in mind there were only 12 of us on this bus including the driver and our professor. Needless to say we all spread out and it was a very comfortable way to travel.

It took about 2 hours for us to get to Tarquinia and we spent an hour or 2 touring the tombs. They were very interesting. They were rooms build in large mound type huts. They were painted with very colorful frescos; though the color had faded you could still appreciate the art work. We then boarded the buss and went into the "downtown" Tarquinia to tour the museum and eat lunch. Having our professor with us at the museums over here is very nice because, one, he knows a lot about everything in the museums, and, 2, everything is written in Italian so with out him I would have little idea what I am looking at.

After lunch we hopped back on the bus and drove an hour back towards Rome the Narcropolis of the town of Cerveteri. The tombs of Cerveteri were really cool. They were much larger and when you entered them they actually looked and felt like multi room houses. They rose from the ground like large stone huts but instead of being build up from he ground they were carved out of the ground. It was amazing to think about how people in 400-500 BC were able to create such structures.

Once we were done touring we hoped back on the bus and headed back to Rome. It took us about 2 hours to get back to the train station because of traffic. Since we were close to the train station we decided to all go to Pizza Fantasy again. It was still not a Fantasy! At least this time more peopled agreed that it was mediocre Pizza at best since they were all sober.

Saturday was another early morning. I got up at 7am so that I could be at the train station in time to board a train at 8:40. I took the train to Florence where I grabbed a quick lunch and a very large homemade chocolate chip cookie. After my lunch I met up with my tour and boarded a bus for Tuscany. The sites are absolutely beautiful. It is the beginning of grape picking season and the finest Olive Oil producers will begin picking in the next week or so. Therefore everything in full bloom!

The first stop on our trip was to the small town of St. Brigida. In St. Brigida we visited the small, beautiful and quaint church of St. Bridgida which is built on top of the grotto where she lived with a bird after her brother died. We then continued our tour on to Castello del Trebbio. At Catello Del Trebbio we learned about the history of the castle and how it was once owned by the second most powerful family in Florence until they tried to kill of the Medici Family. We toured the castle and wine cellars and learned all about wine and Olive Oil from the Chianti Region of Italy. At the end of our tour we tasted 3 wines Chianti Classico, Chianti Reserve, and a Vin Santo. The wines were accompanied by local snacks. Everything tasted wonderful. After the tasting we had time to explore the vineyard and the gift shop. It was a very fun experience and the drive back to Florence was as pretty as the drive to the castle. It was nice to get to meet new people and spend time with a large group of people who speak English.

When I returned to Florence I had about 2 hours until my train left for Rome so I walked around the city and grabbed an anti-pasta for dinner since I wasn’t very hungry. The train ride back was much nicer than the train ride there because it was on a faster a train. The faster trains tend to be a little bit nicer. The train got into Rome a bit later than schedule. After a long but wonderful day I made it back to my apartment at about midnight!

I should have showered and gone straight to bed but instead I stayed up talking on the phone and facebooking until the Razorback game started the 2:45am local time and followed the first quarter on ESPN.com. With the Razorbacks up 14-7 at the end of the first quarter I decided I should call it a night. I did however roll over several hours later just in time to follow the very disappointing end to the game on my IPhone. Although we lost I still love the Razorbacks and miss football season terribly (almost if not as much as a I miss my family and friends).

Today is going to be spent resting and recovering from my weekend so that I can hit the ground running with new adventures next week.

Here are a few pictures from Tuscany.

I Know I know...

I know I know it has been way to long since my last post. Like 3 whole days. Im sure some of you are strugleing to get out of bed each morning because you dont have anythin to read on my blog, but have no fear I am going to post a very long blog on Sunday (possible very late Saturday night where you are). So for know these 4 sentances will have to carry you through.

The the Winner is...

No, this blog is not about the way Kanye West was a total tool to Taylor Swift at the VMAs! This blog is about how I have discovered some of the best and worsts of Rome over the last week or so.

The Award for Worst Pasta goes to Mojio at Campo di Fiori!

Yesterday after class I wanted to to grad and quick lunch and go home to take a nap. Campo di Fiori is located about 2 blicks from teh school and is on my way home. It is a Piazza that has a pretty cool market that is open till about about one and several resteraunts surrounding it. I really wanted either pasta cobanara or cantiloni (these too dishes have become some of my favorites in the last few weeks). I walked around the piazza and saw a sign that read pasta or pizza and wine for 8.50 euro, for those of you nkow familer with prices over here that is a pretty good deal. To find a hot meal for less than 10 euro is hard. So I checked the menu and saw that had both pasta cobonara and cantiloni so I got a table and set down. I ordered my wine and learned that canitiloni was not included in the special so I order pasta cobonara. I will spare you the details just becuase they aren't that interesting and tell you it was gross! I paid and left the resturant very disappointed and tierd. I made it home in about 20 minutes a took a nap.

The Award for Best Gelato goes to Old Bridge Gelato.

After my nap I went to meet my friend Mary Beth, who I have worked at Kanakuk with for the last 2 summers, for gelato. I sort of knew where this place was but didnt know for sure. So I took my GPS and off I went. What should have been a 20 minute walk took 45 because Tom Tom took me in a round about manner. Though almost a half hour late a made it, and luckly Mary Beth was still there. I spent 3 euro on the largest quantity of Ice Cream I have ever eaten in one sitting and it was well worth it. I got 3 flavors all on one cone Blueberry, Nutella, and Cantelope. It was amazing. The two fruit flavors had really fresh fruit. The cantelope reminded me of when I was a little girl and Pop use to give the Cantelope "popsicles". Once we had our gelato we sat in St. Peters Square, ate our Ice Cream and talked for the next hour or so. It was a wonderful afternoon and we have decided we are going to meet every Wednesday for lunch. We are also looking at traveling to Austria together sometime next month.

The Award for Most Rediculous Recycling Program EVER goes to Trastervere, Rome.

I dont know how I have made it 3 weeks with out sharing how aweful it is to try to throw away a piece of trash in this apartment. For starts there are no garabage cans, but that is because there are all these bags and a crazy recycling system. There are 4 categories. Paper, Plastic, Organic Material (which last time I checked paper is organic), and non recycleble materials. Each Category has its own color bag and its own collection day. On collection day it must be outside the building before 8:30am or you will miss pick up. There are no bins you just put the bags next to the door of your building on the street. But becareful. If you are a person who plans ahead be sure not to put for trash out before 8:30pm the night before or someone might get made you. Last night I saw a bunchof old men alsomt get in a fist fight because some guy had put the trash out too early. Trahs here is just crazy and you know how I feel about recycling. Needless to say this is just furthering my hatered for the issue!

On the academic front. My classes are going very well. We went to the Capitolin Museum which was one of the first public museums in the world. It was mostly sculpure and had a lot of really cool frescos on the wall.

All is well here, the city is beautiful, and the weather has been amazing!

First Day of Class

Today was the first day of real class. It feels like I have been here way to long to just now be starting class. To refresh your memory I arrived 2 weeks ago today. Class went well. I am taking two class. Art and Historic Preservation (AHP) meets on Monday and Wednesday and Architecture of the Roman City meets on Tuesday and Thursday. Class begins each day at 9 and end somewhere between 11:30 and 12:30. They arent to picky when it comes to time over here. AHP is taught by two different profesors. On Monday we focus on Historic Preservation with won of the worlds leading historic preservationist, and on Wednesday we focus on Art Culture. My professor on Wednesday might be one of the smartest people I know. He knows something about every piece of art in every building we walk into. His array of knowledge is truely amazing. Tommarrow I will learn more about my archtecture of city class. I know that it involves a lot of sketching. While I am not a good sketcher now I have been told that I will come back amazing!

Overall I think my classes are going really well. I have afternoons free while everyone else in my program is in studio. I think I am going to really enjoy this time. It will allow me to do what I want with out having to worry about what others want to do or where they might want to go. I plan to use the timeto sketch tour other parts of the city and revisits museums that we saw in class.

I am begining to try and plan the different weekend trips I want to take. There are so many places. It is going to be a great semester but it is going to fly buy!

Lazy Day

Today has been a slow and lazy day nut it has not been with out its adventures. We all got up about 9 this morning to go to this supposedly really cool market that the boys found last week. (It is only open on Sunday Mornings). We met at the boy’s apartment at about 9:45 and headed towards the market. The clouds in the sky looked ominous, but we decided to brave it anyway. The guys thought this market was really cool. We girls were not as impressed. It was very crowded and the type place you had to dig through the stuff to find what you want. Many of the items were used, and we didn’t see anything we really wanted, needed, or couldn’t live without. We got about half way down the market when it began to drizzle and thunder. Having gotten stuck out in similar conditions yester day we knew that it was only a matter of time until the storm turned in to a down poor. Needless to say, we turned back and made it home just in time. While the market may have not been the success we had hoped for it was a fun adventure that got us up and out of the house. I spent about an hour reading and then took a nap to the peaceful rain. It was very relaxing to sleep to the storm with the windows open.

The remainder of the day has been spent hanging out, reading, playing on the internet and enjoying the sound of the storm move through. I did venture out a little while ago when there was a break in the storm for a pastry and some gelato. I can never have too many sweets! This evening we plan to get some dinner and hang out with guys. We all start real class tomorrow so I imagine we will call it a relatively early night.

Im Gonna Keep it Short

Im not in much of a mood to blog but I have been told some of you get more excited about reading my blog than a little kid who wakes up to micky mouse pancases with chocolate chips on Saturday morning. NOt to mention I dont want to get out of the habit of blogging so that I have a record of what I did it the future. That being said, I have going to keep this one short.

My roommates and I got up this mornig and caught a train to the beach. It was beautiful and I really enjoyed swing inthe Mediteraining Sea. It is wierd to think about the fact that today I swam in the same body of water where Jesus once was. It was the perfect day for beach, and we stayed for several hours.

Keep my roommate Stacy and her family in your prayers. When we returned from the beach her mom called to tell her that her grandfather had passed away. He had a heart attack a few days ago and I guess it all just went down hill from there. She would really like to go home, but it just really isn't possible. The next few days will be very hard on her family, but they will pribibly be even harder for her as she struggles to find closure without the physical support of her family or a funeral.

On a happier note I am very excited that classes start for real on Monday and CBHS beat White Station on Friday. Go Brothers! Since the Razorbacks make dont play this week I am happy to announce that we will be headed into week 3 undefeated as we take ont he Georgia Bulldogs at home. I really miss American Football in case you cant tell. This will be the first seaon in 22 years that I have not watched a down on football live and in person!

Pizza Fantasy and the Kosovo Terrorist Network

So before you all freak out and think that it is unsafe over here I will tell you about the Kosovo Terrorist Network (KTN). About 2 days ago I go on the computer and open up the internet. When I did I did not find the usual home page. Instead I got this creepy black scream with weird music that said I was being logged into the Kosovo Terrorist Network. I immediately closed the window and reported it to the You Place in Rome people and they came and fixed it yesterday. Apparently our computer somehow got hacked into but all is well now. This is why I have not blogged in a few days. I did not want to somehow expose any of your computers to anything. Needless to say I will doing things like checking my bank account and anything else I hope to keep secure on the computers at the school since they seem to have a more secure network.

Now for Pizza Fantasy. Last night we all (all 10 people in my program) decided we would go out and find this place called Pizza Fantasy that Brian had been talking about all week. So we all go dressed up because we had intended for this to be a night out on the town. It ended up being a very long bus ride and mediocre Pizza, but since 75% of my friends were drunk they thought it was great. I on the other was just a little uncomfortable. After the outing last night I now know why Americans have a bad reputation over here, and why crazy things happen to them.

All and all things are going very well. I have finished the first week of school, and real class starts on Monday. I think my classes are going to be great. I am very excited that I only have class in the morning. This will allow me to go back and visit sites in the afternoon as well as practice my sketching. I need a lot of work! We are talking about going to the beach on Saturday so that should be fun.

Rome is My Classroom

I got my first taste of what class will be like this semester. I think that amazing is probibly a good word to use. Now today was still just orientation but we began going on tours of the city and the day was set up much like my class will be. Here is how class goes. Meet the Professor at a random location in Rome (today it was the school Wednesday it is Capitol Hill), walk and look around in amazment, stop and listen to the professor talk, ask questions, sketch, move on and repeat. It is so much fun. If every class in life were like this no one would hate school. It is so amazing how much there is here. The city is almost 30 feet deep with one building on top of another. You are walking down the street and all of the sudden you turn a corner and it is like BAM there is an amazing building and history is just before your eyes.

Apparently the link I posted yesterday didnt work so I am going to try again. Try this link for more pics (if it doesnt work as a link try copy and pasting it into your broweser.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2214991&id=20607137&l=5f78f69d64

PS Spell check isn't working today so if all my smarty pants friends could refrain, posting comments (sending email, facebook messages, etc.) that point out every miss spelled word that would be great. Let just all get the good laugh out now. "haha Megan can't spell"

much awaited pics!

So, if you find yourself wondering why I have not posted in several days it is not because I have been so busy having fun that I have not had time. Thought I have been very busy having fun as you will see from this post. It is because our internet and phone have been down since Thursday. Thanks to the Center I know have a local phone number. It is an international call for you but a free for me so let me know if you want the number and I will give it to you. I can also give you my skype number (which is free for both of us if you would like it).

Rome has been great the last few days. I am getting use to living in a city that has between 3-5 million people, but I don't think you have to worry about me wanting to move here predominantly. I like it here but my heart still, resides in Fayetteville with a little piece in Memphis. We began orientation here today. It was nice to have something we had to do and get familiarized with the Rome Center. The faculty is great and I am excited about all the adventures the semester holds.

So without further ado here are the pictures...



my living room




My bedroom



the kitchen and laundry room.

For those of you thinking "HA Megan will never use that room" You are wrong! My roommates and I cooked dinner last night, and I have already done laundry once.



THe bathroom

More pictures can be found at


Sorry they are side ways I will figure out how to turn them for the next blog maybe!

My New BFF and Air Conditioning

Ok so I hate to disappoint you but I don’t have a new best friend nor do I have air conditioning, but I do have 2 things that come very close. My TomTom and a new fan. TomTom, my gps, is perhaps the greatest item I brought on this trip. It is far better than any map or tour books. While he is not perfect, he allows me to navigate easily from wherever I am to wherever I want to go without any trouble! He talks to me and tells me which way to go. It is impossible to get lost because if I make a wrong turn it just gives me a new route to my destination. Basically like I said before it is the greats thing ever, and if you are travelling anytime soon you should acquire one too!

In case you did not pick up of the fact that it is very hott here and I don’t have AC, it is and I don’t. I do however, now have a fully functioning fan. After a lot of searching, a very Under the Tuscan Sun shopping adventure, and some assembly without the proper tools I now have a fan that has cooled my apartment down tremendously. My two roommates from KU, Theresa and Stacy, arrived today and they plan to purchase a fan very soon as well. So basically I feel as though my apartment is now air conditioned!

For those of you wondering what an Under the Tuscan Sun shopping adventure is I encourage you to rent the movies. In short I speak basically no Italian, and the people at the store spoke basically no English, but after a lot of gesturing and grunting I managed to purchase a fan!

I had this whole long blog with my days adventures and lots of photos planed but the internet is less than reliable right now so it will have to wait until it gets fixed. Over all I am having a great time and am very happy to be here.

Tammy dont worry you could never be replaced, esp by a machine!

Day 1 Down

I apologize that I don’t have the pictures of the apartment download yet but they are coming. I spent much of the day trying to catch up on sleep and getting settled in. My apartment, like most in Rome, is not air conditioned. It is very warm and humid, so I am in great need of a fan. I a few hours this afternoon looking for one, but did not find any shops that sell them. I am going to email the school and the people at Your Place in Rome to see if they have any ideas on where I might be able to purchase a fan.

I hate to complain about the weather, but I feel that it is justified for 2 reasons:

1. It is hott enough that the Romans are complaining about it. And in my opinion is the locals are complaining about it the visitors can too.
2. I spent 6 of the last 12 weeks living in a TP and Kamp and was never really this hott.

It is as hott and humid and Memphis and Central Arkansas in mid-August and I know that those of you reading who have been there before wouldn’t dare part with your A/C.

All and all I am doing well. My neighbourhood is great. There are lots of restaurants, and shops. Everything I need (except and fan) is just right around the corner.

Thing I have Learned Since I Arrived:
1. 5 minutes= 15 minutes and 20 minutes= 45 minutes
2. Bubbly water is gross and all water has bubbles unless it is coming out of your sink or says mineral water on it.
3. Despite what travel books say, Italians do where shorts. They are just longer. In other words the travel books should say "Italians don’t where booty shorts"
4. There is no reason to sleep-in in a city that takes siestas. Just take a nap while they do whatever it is they do during siesta.
5. Restaurants and bars and open late but nothing else is.

For those of you who have Google mapped by address, mine is the yellow building second floor from the top on the corner.

Happy Birthday Courtney! I here 23 is kind of let down but have fun anyway!

IM here!

Just wanted to let everyone know that I am here. My appartment is wonderful, and I have had a good italian meal. Seeing as how I have been up for well over 24 hours now. I am going to shower and go to bed, but know worries details and pictures will come tomarrow! (I have already taken many pictures of my appartment)

T-Minus 2 Days!

I leave for Rome in 2 day! AHHH! I am getting really excited about it! I am getting board in Memphis and am very ready to start the semester and my European adventure. I have spent this past week gathering everything I must have to live for the next 4 months. My mom was kind enough to take Thursday and Friday afternoon off and not only run errands with me but also foot the bill for all of the stuff I need to buy! I love my mom and was great-full to have her company (and her wallet), this week. I think I have figured out everything I am taking. Tomorrow I will figure out how I am going to pack it all in my one giant duffel bag and large back pack. For those of you who know me well and I have seen my closet should be impressed that I am only taking about 8 pairs of pants, and about 25 shirts for 4 whole months.

Well the next time I write will probably be from Rome! I cant wait for the adventure to begin!

Small Town Girl

As you all know I am back in Memphis for about 2 weeks before I leave from Rome. While I have only been back about 4 days it is very clear that I am not the big city girl that I once was. Perhaps it is just my deep deep love for Fayetteville, but I am proud to say I am a small town girl. What makes me say that I am no longer a big city girl you might ask? Well let me just share a few stories/ facts about the last few days. While all of you from Fayetteville get a bit nervous about my aggressive driving, I have apparently lost my touch when it comes to driving in the big city. Apparently when you are driving in Memphis you are going to slow if go the speed limit and if you aren't half way through the light the second it turns green you are crazy. Lets just say I have been honked at a lot, and in my opinion for no reason. Second, over the last few days I have had several appointments and lunch dates with friends and family, and lets just say I haven't been on time to a single one. Now, I am typically a punctual person, but I am not use to it taking a half hour to get everywhere. This long travel time is really cramping my style. I mean heck, church is the only place that it took me more than ten minutes to get too in Fayetteville, and that because it is in Rogers! Also, I just hate the traffic and all of the drivers are unfriendly. Thirdly, while North West Arkansas News reporting is arguably sub-par at least it isnt all bad. In Memphis the entire new report is on one of 3 topics; murder, rape, or King Willie (Memphis' crazy former mayor who is addicited to crack, resigned so that he could run for senate but is now running for mayor again to "save the city" as he says).

Anyway, I am definitely not a big city girl anymore and am very excited to move back to Fayetteville one day. (Carter if you are reading this "one day" does not mean the spring)

Fall is Back in Fayetteville...

...and I wont be there to enjoy it! Kamp is over and I am spending a few days in Fayetteville before heading on to Memphis. As I drive through Fayetteville I can just feel the buzz of fall, and while I am excited to be going to Rome, it makes me want to stay here! I love this place. I love the people, the town, the atmosphere, the football, the restaurants, the Dickson Street, the University, my church, and everything else that is great about North West Arkansas. But I know that it is only a matter of time (only a few short years if I have my way) until I return here to live. I can think of no other place I would rather call home and raise a family than Fayetteville, AR.

God has blessed me with an amazing summer. He has used the summer to confirm in both my heart and my head that I want to work in Student Affairs the rest of my life. I loved the internship that I did the first half of the summer. I got to see the business side and the people side of Student Affairs and loved every minute of it. Then I had the opportunity to serve in a leadership role at kamp where I served as a UC. As a UC one of my primary jobs was to work with the counselors by serving them and helping them to do there job better. This further affirmed that I love helping people succeed and feel successful.

That's all for now. T-Minus 18 days till Rome!

What I do All Day!

Before I tell you what exactly it is I do all day I thought that I would give a quick update on Kamp. Kamp is going well. It is hard to believe that we are in the middle of 10th term (out of 12). There are only 14 days and 800 more kampers left for the summer. My how time flies. The counselors seem to be doing well. Everyone is getting a bit tiered and having to rely on God more and more each day for there energy, but that is normal and to be expected. It seems that it is always in the these last few weeks of summer when everyone is worn out and feels that they can go on no more that the Lord moves in the biggest ways and does the most amazing things.

Last week was a fun week. I finished my boater safety course and got my Missouri Boaters Licences. I am now a boat drive at kamp. It is a blast. Sorry I didn't post last week, time got away from me on my 2-4.

Now for what I do all day. This is my basic schedule each day. It looks a little different on Change Over Days (the day old kids leave and new ones arrive) and on Day 4 or Church Day/ Man and Girl Day as we like to call it.

Some time between 6:45-7:15- Rise and Shine
7:15-8:00- Check on Counselors who's Co- Counselor are on 2-4 so that they can go to the Bathroom, Brush there Teeth, Check the Schedule for the day etc.
8:00-8:35- Get Dressed, Spend time in Gods Word, Write Letters etc.
8:35-8:45- Check on TPs and Counselors to make sure everyone is going to make sure everyone will make to to Flag on time.
8:45-9:00- Help grade Jr. Kamp Tip Top TP and preform morning Utility Checks to insure all TPs are clean, and all lights and fans work in girls kamp.
9:00-9:15- Counselor Meeting
9:15-9:50- Breakfast
9:50-10:00ish- Sweep Dining Hall
10:00ish-10:30- Help Sr. Kamp Finish Tip Top TP
10:30-11:30 Teach 1st Period Class
11:30-12:30 Teach 2nd Period Class
12:30-1:30- Teach 3rd Period Class
1:30-2:15- Eat Lunch
2:15-2:45ish- Sweep and Mop the Dining Hall
2:45ish-3:00- FOB (Flat of Back) aka Rest Time
3:00-3:15- Attend Counselor Pow Wow or Teach Kamper Pow Wow
3:15-4:15- Teach 4th Period Class
4:15-5:15- Teach 5th Period Class
5:15-6:15- Teach 6th Period Class

I teach 5 periods a day and have 1 off period to use as I please. I usually Drive Boats for 2 periods a day, work ropes for 1 or 2 periods a day and spend the 1 or 2 hours teaching kayak, sail or canoe.

6:15-7:15- Sit on the porch of TPs who have a Counselor on 2-4 so that all Counselors and Kamper may shower. (If I can squeeze it is I also shower at this time)
7:15-Flag
7:15-7:50- Dinner
7:50-8:00ish- Sweep the Dining Hall
8:00ish-9:00ish- Join Kampers and Counselors at Sr. Role Play
9:00ish-10:00ish- Attend and help run evening program
10:00ish-10:30ish- Help counselors get kamper out of the Bathhouse and Back to TP for Devos, and Preform PM Unitility Checks
10:30ish-10:45ish- Copy and Post Schedule for the next day
10:45ish-11:00ish- enforce TAPS and make sure all Counselors and Kamper are in Bed at the correct time
11:00ish-11:30ish- Shower and Get Ready for bed
11:30ish- Go to Bed

In other news: I love getting your mail. Please keep it coming, I am trying really hard to write you back as soon as I get it. While I love kamp I really miss my friends and Fayetteville, but we all have to grow up sometime and move on the the next phase in life and I am ready for the challenge. My friends Vicky and Kevin are moving to Minnisotta on Thursday so it was really great to see them one last time before they move. I can't wait to visit them in the spring. I am excited that Tammy is coming Branson next week to see me and go shopping we have so much to catch up on and it should be a fun girls weekend.

Life's Simple Pleasures and a Boy Named Jake!

So every year kamp makes me grateful for the simple pleasures in life. I realized as I pulled into kamp last week that we are way too plugged in and attached to our gadgets. In order to get out of my car at kamp I had to unplug and turn off a cell phone (that is basically a computer), a GPS, and an I Pod. It is just crazy how I feel that I need all of those things and wouldnt dare go anywhere without them. While at kamp I don't have any of them, I am perfectly happy, and get my just fine. It really does make me wish we could all just live life a little simpler, without being plugged into 1, 2, or 3 electronic devices all day everyday.

Now for the boy named Jake. Jake has been the highlight of kamp so far. Yesterday we started Term 8 at K-Seven. At the pool party Jake decided that he wanted to go down the Zimmy Shimmy. The Zimmy Shimmy is a talk, steep, white water slide like the ones you find in a water park. I was working the flag at the bottom of the slide while another counselor, McKayla, was sending kids down at the top. When Jake got to the top of the slide he got scared and didn't want to go. To make a long story short. After nearly 45 minutes, 2 other counselors, and watching about 30 other kids go down the slide Jake closed is eyes and let the counselors put him on the slide and send him down. When Jake got to the bottom he came out of the water with a giant smile on his face and couldn't stop telling is counselor how great it was. It is kid like Jake that make my job fun.

For the Kingdom! For the Kids!

OOO-EEE I live in a Tee-Pee

Yes, you are reading that right I live a Tee-Pee. For those of you who don't know one of the things that makes Kanakuk K-Seven Unique is that instead of cabins we live in Tee-Pees. They are about 40 tall and are perched a top large wooden decks with fans in the floor and the top to help fight the southern Missouri heat. They sleep about 14 people in bunk beds, and if you have never slept in a tee-pee then you are missing out. I have been doing it for about 11years now and it is a blast!

I know that many of you have been wondering what ago group I am working with, and up until now my answer to you have been I don't know. Well now I know. When I got to kamp a few days ago they asked me to be a UC (Unit Coordinator) instead of a tradition counselor. I UC works with the counselors in 3-4 tee-pees. Building relationships with the counselors is as important as building relationships with the kids. My main job is to support and help to counselors to develop whatever skills they need to minister to there girls. I am the UC for tee-pees 8,9,10. There are 6 counselors in these 3 tee-pees and there girl range in age from 10-15 with most of them being between the age of 11-13.

As a UC I get to be a boat driver as well. I am very excited about this because it means that I get to be on the lake a lot! I have spent the last several days learning to drive boats, wake board, and pull people around the lake on knee boards, skis, wake boards, and of course tubes. I will be able to drive kids around as soon as I finish my MO boaters license test.

Kamp Address

Hi Friends,

As most of you know I will be at kamp starting July 6th- Aug. 12th. I will have 5 days off while at kamp but the best way to get in touch with me is through good old fashion snail mail. I fyou would like to come to Branson and visit me on a day off let me know I because I would love to see you. My address at kamp is...

Megan Francis
118 K-Seven Drive
Lampe, MO 65681

I would love to here from you and get mail, so please send mail often as often as you can. Mail always brightens my day and I promise to write you back! Packages are great too! If the message is urgent you can call and leave me a message with the office at 417-266-3570 and I will call you back on my next day off.

I am going to try to update my blog from time to time while between now and the end of kamp so that you can here about my many fun adventures at Kamp. I might even post a few pictures here and there as well.

Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July,
Megan

The First of Many Updates to Come

Welcome,

This is my little corner of the internet universe. It is where I hope to keep you all updated on my adventures at kamp this summer, and more importantly in Europe this Fall.

The next two weeks are going to be very busy for me. I move out of my apartment this weekend, take the GRE on Monday, and leave for kamp on July 5th. I will spend about 6 weeks at kamp and then leave for Europe on Aug. 31st (thanks Nana and Pop for my airline tickets, they were a huge help). I will be in Italy unil Dec. 31st. When I reture to the states I am going to spend most of the spring deciding where I want to go to Grad School.

I will probibly only post a few times between now and Italy but hope to post all the time once I get settled in Rome.

Thanks for stoppign by.