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!
Thursday, September 24, 2009
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.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
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!
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!
Monday, September 14, 2009
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!
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!
Sunday, September 13, 2009
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.
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.
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