Ciao!! This blog officially marks the halfway point of studying abroad- i can't believe it's going by so fast. After this week break we only have 7 weeks left, which is weird...I'll be excited to go back, but I'm just getting settled into my routine here and it's gonna be weird to go back and get ready for Penn State again!
Anyways, the last 2 weeks have been up and down. After the amazing weekend in Paris, we had a great week here in Florence- no one had too much work to do, so we went out for dinners/drinks every night basically. Monday night Niccolo, this Italian guy I was talking to, took me out for dinner...it was cute. He is trying to learn English and I'm trying to practice Italian, so it's a good situation. Anyways, the next night Corey, my roomate, and I went out on a double date with our 2 Italian guys! I don't think it's gonna go anywhere, but it's a funny story. On Wednesday we all headed to Space Bar, a fun but crazy disco right down our street- free on Wednesdays! A lot of dancing and stuff...the club is kinda sleazy, but it's fun because they have strobe lights and bumping music and all. Thursday came pretty fast, and we went out that night to Twice, the club we went to the very second night we were here. It was funny to go back- now that we actually know where it is and stuff, we realized how far we were from our house that second night!
Annd we finally found the "secret" bakery. We heard rumors that there was a secret bakery open every "morning" from 1:30-3:30 am. It's basically a kitchen that makes pastries for a lot of major cafes and and restaraunts downtown, but they sell their own goods secretly every morning (and for really cheap). We wandered around for a while trying to find it, and then suddenly we got all inhaled this DELICIOUS smell of pastries and chocolate-then we look up the street and it was literally just a closed door...we knocked on it and the guy let us in quietly and we each picked out a chocolate pastry. a perfect midnight snack :)
anyways, since that was now off my "to-do" list, we went home and got ready for Rome the next morning. Corey and I are taking a Roman Civilization class and included in the class was an overnight trip to Rome! So bright and early on Friday we took the train, and arrived in the city around 9:30 am. Since I've already been there with Mary last year, it was more of a relaxing weekend for me. Of course it was amazing to see the Colosseum and the Pantheon again, but I didn't have that gasping shock reaction when we first arrived. Still, the weather was beautiful and Corey and I had a fun weekend. We saw the Colosseum right away and this time I got to go inside! And it wasn't pouring rain, like it was in 2008 with Mary. We learned that the colosseumw as bulit in 72 ad and only took 8 years to build- it was used to host the free gladiatorial games set up to keep the citizens happy. They used to just throw Christians in there with hungry lions and cheer as they got ripped up. Weird, but kinda fascinating. It was so nice to go with a teacher because she was like a personal tour guide.
After seeing the Colosseum I saw something new- the Roman Forum. This is right across the street and is basically the ruins of what used to be the main center of Ancient Rome. A lot of the buildings are just piles of rocks now, but some of them have some columns standing and things like that- it was really cool to walk through it. And then we got to see the ruins from the earliest foundations of Rome- they were from 700 BC. So that was cool. Then we saw where Caeser was buried, the very first shopping mall, and a lot of amazing sculptures. Then we were free after lunch, so Corey and I spent the day walking around Rome, relaxing in cafes and drinking coffee, and taking lots of pics. Rome is beautiful, but I still like Florence more..it just has more of a homey feel. (Paris is still probably my favorite, though!) That night we walked to the Trevi Fountain, tossed some lucky coins in, and then had a nice 3-course dinner (kinda touristy, but everything was around the fountain) that included amazing canneloni pasta and roast chicken! so good.
Saturday we woke up and went to see the Ara Pacis with class. The Ara Pacid was a temple of peace built by Emporer Augustus, and it's really interesting because it's basically an old-school form of advertisting. Augustus used propoganda to convince the Roman people that he was a peaceful leader and not a tyrant (he learned his lesson from his uncle, Julius Caesar, who was assasinated after being too tyrannical). So Augustus created this temple with depictions of his family on it, and then certain Gods that portray fertility, peace, nature, and all that. Anyway, it was completely preserved in it's entirety and was really cool to see. Then we headed towards the Pantheon. I think this still my favorite thing in Rome, I think...I mean you're just walking down the street and then all of a sudden you come across this HUGE dome that's almost 2,000 years old. It used to be a temple to the Roman divinites, but then it was transformed into a church (and it still is today- in fact, a wedding was taking place inside when we first arrived). Anway, it's just breathtakingly big, and inside is even cooler. How did they build that?!?
We had that afternoon off again, so Corey and I walked to the Vatican and just hung out, got coffee and chatted. We got back to Florence that night around 8:30, and convinced our other roomates to go out for one last night before the dreaded midterm week began. So we checked out his club called YAB, a place where Mary and I tried to get into last year but we weren't dressed up enough. So we all put our dresses on and headed over...the door guys literally checked out our outfits, then gave us an okay and we got in! It was realllly nice- mostly Italians, which is a good sign, and a very class space. We danced all night again and had a fun last night of freedom....
Which takes me to this week. Midterms week. This week reminded me of a regular week back at Penn State- neverending, stressful, and cold. The weather dropped literally 20 degrees this Monday, which is kind of nice (we didn't have a Fall) but then again kind of annoying, since I don't have a jacket yet (parents are bringing.) I had 4 major exams to study for, one everyday, and each teacher asked us to memorize 10 or 15 dates on various things...this is why I probably sound so smarty on Rome right now- I've been studying it for 48 hours straight!! Anyways, right now I know all there is to know about Roman Civilization, art history in Florence, and the history of food. Now I only have Italian in a few hours, and then...I GET TO SEE MY PARENTSS!!!!
We are meeting in Venice and I can't wait. This is probably part of the reason I've been so excited but stressed this week, because in the back of my head I just kept thinking about seeing them! We are going to have a GREAT week in Venice, Slovenia, Austria, and other places that I'm not sure about...and then on Friday I'm going by myself to England to see the FAMILY!
so I won't be updating this blog for about 2 weeks, but I'll be sure to write my fall break adventures down as soon as I can. love you all, miss you xoxoxoox
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