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?
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
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.
To all of you who are dying to see pics from Naples I promise they are coming.
Monday, September 28, 2009
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.
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.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
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!
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!
Sunday, September 20, 2009
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.
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.
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.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
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.
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