Buongiorno!
As you are well aware, I haven't blogged in a really long time. Mi dispiace! Quite a bit has happened. On the 29th of September, I went to a Champions League soccer game in Florence. Fiorentina vs. Liverpool. In the afternoon I went to Florence with a couple friends to find some purple attire. As we walked around we saw a ton of people preparing for the game. I've never seen so many people wearing purple in my life. We arrived at the stadium that night and joined the huge crowd trying to get in. We went through more security than we did at the Rome airport for customs. haha! The game was a blast, Fiorentina played great that night and won 2-0. Some of the players for both teams play for national teams. Anyway, I had a blast at the game and I took some pictures and videos.
This past weekend I went to Venice with a group of 14 others. We planned to take an 11:50 AM bus up the hill. We got a call sometime in the morning from our RD (who had left for a different trip that morning) telling us that there was a protest downtown and we should give ourselves more time. We got up to the bus stop about an hour earlier than planned. We waited for 20 minutes (2 busses should have come by then). So we didn't miss our train, we decided to start walking to town and hope we'd see a bus. Basically we walked and walked and walked and walked. It rained and we kept walking. We split into 2 groups somehow. My group ended up walking all the way to the train station in Florence. We'd walked an hour and 45 minutes! It was exhausting, but now I can say I did it. We ran into the protest at one point. Mostly it was just a bunch of people holding flags and yelling.
Anyway, when we got to the right train station we found out that after all that our train was 65 minutes delayed!!!! Ugh. When we finally arrived in Venice we took a ferry to our hostel. That night we ate pizza and wondered around Venice. Over the trip we traveled with a priest and a brother from Florence. It was cool because the priest could explain pretty much everything to us. He got us into a lot of great places. It was so much fun! Over the course of the trip we ate some great Italian meals, saw some beautiful views, and explored a castle. We got back to the Villa around 10 PM last night. Let me tell you though, I still feel like I'm on a boat!!!! Wave lag...
There's much more to tell about that trip, but I don't have enough time to get it all out.
This week is pretty uneventful so far, though I guess it's just started. It's raining a little today. I hope all is well back home.
Love you all,
Anna
Monday, October 12, 2009
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Perugia and Assisi
Ciao Tutti! (Hello Everyone)
Sorry I haven't written in a long time, it's been busy over here in Italia.
Last weekend we all traveled to Perugia and Assisi for the weekend. We took a charter bus to our hotel in Perugia (2 hour bus ride). The hotel was awesome and overlooked the city of Perugia. After getting to our rooms, we left and met our teacher and tour guide Francesco in Perugia. He is a native of Perugia and absolutely loves it and thinks it's the best plays in the world...I think he tells us that every day. Anyway, we toured Perugia for several hours and then had some free time. I enjoyed the city much more than Florence even. It was so much more peaceful and quiet. That evening (around 8pm...ugh, late!) we enjoyed a 3/4 course meal at our hotel. It was wonderful! Pasta, pasta, spinach, meat, dessert, and wine. We were so full by the time it was over (about 9:30pm)!! After looking through the hotel photo album, I discovered that Pope John Paul II had eaten in the same dining room during his trip to Perugia. I thought that was really cool.
The next day we met up with Francesco and took a bus to Assisi. It was beautiful! We walked around a while and then toured the Basilica of St. Francis where his tomb is. The church has 3 stories, all full of beautiful artwork and architecture. We also walked down a steep pathway to see the church at San Damiano (that St. Francis rebuilt). After our tour with Francesco we had free time. I and 2 other girls walked around the side streets of Assisi to get a feel for the town. The streets and houses were so cool, I really really enjoyed our time there. That night we enjoyed another great 3/4 course meal. Sunday morning we went to Mass at the Duomo in Perugia. After Mass we took the metro to meet up with our charter bus. We got back to the Villa sometime in the afternoon.
This past week of class has been pretty busy. Tuesday we watched a great movie on the life of Padre Pio...everyone should watch it (Padre Pio, the miracle man from Ignatius Press). Friday morning I left with 7 others to Lake Como. It's about an hour from Milan. We walked around Milan a while until our train to Como arrived. When we went to get on our train, the boards now said our train was cancelled...uh oh. Apparently there was a strike somewhere along the line. Now we had to wait another 2 hours for the 4:20 train. When it finally arrived we headed to Lake Como (near the towns of Vernazza and Menaggio). Our train stopped in Vernazza and we had to take a ferry across the lake to Menaggio where our hostel was. The town was very nice and the Lake was absolutely gorgeous. Alps pretty much surrounded the whole area. That night after a bite of dinner we explored the little town. The night lights by the lake were pretty neat. I tried strawberry yogurt gelato.
The next morning we woke up to rain. Actually, I didn't sleep hardly at all that night due to cars, loud noises, and pouring down rain. So by morning I already knew it was raining when the alarm went off. Our plan was to hike up one of the alps as far as we could. In the rain we hurried to the bus stop at 7:10am. The bus took us up and around mountain switchbacks until we reached another town. I'm forgetting the name at the moment. In that town we got to a hiking trail and for the next 2 hours we hiked up a mountain. The rain subsided after about 30 minutes of hiking. The rocks were slip in some places and it was also a bit muddy. I was exhausted by the time we reached a look out point. Some of the group kept going so that they could reach a summit before we had to go back down. My knee was already quite a bit sore and tired so I decided not to go up with them. That was ok because the view I got of the alps was still wonderful. Going down went by faster, but it hurt my knees more. We caught a bus back to the town of our hostel, took a ferry back over the lake, and ran to get to the train station. We had 5 minutes to get there and buy our tickets. We found out that we couldn't buy them there. Instead, we had to get them from the agency in advance or else get them on the train. Since we had no time we bought them on the train. The ride back to Milan took about an hour. In Milan we had another 2 hours to wait until our train to Florence arrived. During that time I ate some lunch/dinner and read some homework. Our train from Milan to Florence took about 3 1/2 hours. We arrived back in Florence around 9:30 pm.
Today I have been working on homework for tomorrow. Now I will be heading out to the soccer field to play a futbol match with some Italians from the University in town. It should be fun but I'm tired from the hike...pray for me. :-D
Love to all!
Anna
Sorry I haven't written in a long time, it's been busy over here in Italia.
Last weekend we all traveled to Perugia and Assisi for the weekend. We took a charter bus to our hotel in Perugia (2 hour bus ride). The hotel was awesome and overlooked the city of Perugia. After getting to our rooms, we left and met our teacher and tour guide Francesco in Perugia. He is a native of Perugia and absolutely loves it and thinks it's the best plays in the world...I think he tells us that every day. Anyway, we toured Perugia for several hours and then had some free time. I enjoyed the city much more than Florence even. It was so much more peaceful and quiet. That evening (around 8pm...ugh, late!) we enjoyed a 3/4 course meal at our hotel. It was wonderful! Pasta, pasta, spinach, meat, dessert, and wine. We were so full by the time it was over (about 9:30pm)!! After looking through the hotel photo album, I discovered that Pope John Paul II had eaten in the same dining room during his trip to Perugia. I thought that was really cool.
The next day we met up with Francesco and took a bus to Assisi. It was beautiful! We walked around a while and then toured the Basilica of St. Francis where his tomb is. The church has 3 stories, all full of beautiful artwork and architecture. We also walked down a steep pathway to see the church at San Damiano (that St. Francis rebuilt). After our tour with Francesco we had free time. I and 2 other girls walked around the side streets of Assisi to get a feel for the town. The streets and houses were so cool, I really really enjoyed our time there. That night we enjoyed another great 3/4 course meal. Sunday morning we went to Mass at the Duomo in Perugia. After Mass we took the metro to meet up with our charter bus. We got back to the Villa sometime in the afternoon.
This past week of class has been pretty busy. Tuesday we watched a great movie on the life of Padre Pio...everyone should watch it (Padre Pio, the miracle man from Ignatius Press). Friday morning I left with 7 others to Lake Como. It's about an hour from Milan. We walked around Milan a while until our train to Como arrived. When we went to get on our train, the boards now said our train was cancelled...uh oh. Apparently there was a strike somewhere along the line. Now we had to wait another 2 hours for the 4:20 train. When it finally arrived we headed to Lake Como (near the towns of Vernazza and Menaggio). Our train stopped in Vernazza and we had to take a ferry across the lake to Menaggio where our hostel was. The town was very nice and the Lake was absolutely gorgeous. Alps pretty much surrounded the whole area. That night after a bite of dinner we explored the little town. The night lights by the lake were pretty neat. I tried strawberry yogurt gelato.
The next morning we woke up to rain. Actually, I didn't sleep hardly at all that night due to cars, loud noises, and pouring down rain. So by morning I already knew it was raining when the alarm went off. Our plan was to hike up one of the alps as far as we could. In the rain we hurried to the bus stop at 7:10am. The bus took us up and around mountain switchbacks until we reached another town. I'm forgetting the name at the moment. In that town we got to a hiking trail and for the next 2 hours we hiked up a mountain. The rain subsided after about 30 minutes of hiking. The rocks were slip in some places and it was also a bit muddy. I was exhausted by the time we reached a look out point. Some of the group kept going so that they could reach a summit before we had to go back down. My knee was already quite a bit sore and tired so I decided not to go up with them. That was ok because the view I got of the alps was still wonderful. Going down went by faster, but it hurt my knees more. We caught a bus back to the town of our hostel, took a ferry back over the lake, and ran to get to the train station. We had 5 minutes to get there and buy our tickets. We found out that we couldn't buy them there. Instead, we had to get them from the agency in advance or else get them on the train. Since we had no time we bought them on the train. The ride back to Milan took about an hour. In Milan we had another 2 hours to wait until our train to Florence arrived. During that time I ate some lunch/dinner and read some homework. Our train from Milan to Florence took about 3 1/2 hours. We arrived back in Florence around 9:30 pm.
Today I have been working on homework for tomorrow. Now I will be heading out to the soccer field to play a futbol match with some Italians from the University in town. It should be fun but I'm tired from the hike...pray for me. :-D
Love to all!
Anna
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Singing in the rain...
Ciao mi amici,
This week as been fairly uneventful. Saturday and Sunday I rested after our trip to Cinque Terre. I did some homework and enjoyed being around the Villa. Saturday evening 4 of us took a ride on a random bus (#36) to see where it would take us. I don't recommend doing this in the evening. The bus we happened to get onto ended up going way outside of Florence, similar to the distance between Settignano and Florence...just in the opposite direction. By the latter half of the ride we were the only ones on the bus, which is not exactly a good sign. The adventure would have been fine if it would have been light out and we could have seen where we were going. We were afraid our bus driver was going to stop for the night and leave us in the middle of nowhere. Thankfully, we started to recognize buildings and streets that we had passed on the way there. Once we got back to Florence we headed back up to the Villa. Moral of the story: Don't ride bus #36 ever...and don't jump on a random bus if it is almost dark. :-D
Monday we went to the Duomo in Florence with Francesco. On our way to the church of Santa Maria Novella it started downpouring on us. It was so GREAT!!! The 28 of us were running down the streets of Florence in the pouring down rain yelling and laughing. When we arrived at Santa Maria Novella our shoes and clothes were soaked through. My camera stayed dry thanks to the bag I had it in (thanks Aunt Sandy!). It rained several more times that day and the next.
Tuesday evening I went with Claire, Paul, Dave, Jessie, and I to the big super store in Florence. This is the first time we had gone there. Basically it is an Italian Walmart...a little smaller though. I got a bottle of sweet wine, I've yet to try it though. We headed back to the Villa and sat around talking for quite some time. Then we headed to the lounge to watch the Sound of Music in Italian (Paul had bought it at the super store).
Yesterday it was rainy again. I did homework most of the day. Today I've had Italian class and soon I will have theology. Tomorrow morning we are all leaving early for Parugia and Asissi. We won't return until Sunday afternoon. I am really looking forward to it!
Well, class time for me. I hope everyone is doing well.
Love from Italia. Ciao!
Anna
This week as been fairly uneventful. Saturday and Sunday I rested after our trip to Cinque Terre. I did some homework and enjoyed being around the Villa. Saturday evening 4 of us took a ride on a random bus (#36) to see where it would take us. I don't recommend doing this in the evening. The bus we happened to get onto ended up going way outside of Florence, similar to the distance between Settignano and Florence...just in the opposite direction. By the latter half of the ride we were the only ones on the bus, which is not exactly a good sign. The adventure would have been fine if it would have been light out and we could have seen where we were going. We were afraid our bus driver was going to stop for the night and leave us in the middle of nowhere. Thankfully, we started to recognize buildings and streets that we had passed on the way there. Once we got back to Florence we headed back up to the Villa. Moral of the story: Don't ride bus #36 ever...and don't jump on a random bus if it is almost dark. :-D
Monday we went to the Duomo in Florence with Francesco. On our way to the church of Santa Maria Novella it started downpouring on us. It was so GREAT!!! The 28 of us were running down the streets of Florence in the pouring down rain yelling and laughing. When we arrived at Santa Maria Novella our shoes and clothes were soaked through. My camera stayed dry thanks to the bag I had it in (thanks Aunt Sandy!). It rained several more times that day and the next.
Tuesday evening I went with Claire, Paul, Dave, Jessie, and I to the big super store in Florence. This is the first time we had gone there. Basically it is an Italian Walmart...a little smaller though. I got a bottle of sweet wine, I've yet to try it though. We headed back to the Villa and sat around talking for quite some time. Then we headed to the lounge to watch the Sound of Music in Italian (Paul had bought it at the super store).
Yesterday it was rainy again. I did homework most of the day. Today I've had Italian class and soon I will have theology. Tomorrow morning we are all leaving early for Parugia and Asissi. We won't return until Sunday afternoon. I am really looking forward to it!
Well, class time for me. I hope everyone is doing well.
Love from Italia. Ciao!
Anna
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Cinque Terre
Buongiorno,
I hope this finds you all having a wonderful day in the States. It's around 1:45 PM here in Italia, so most of you are probably still getting up for the day since it's around 6:45 AM there. Not to say that I'm up and getting around already...I'm actually quite exhausted and feel like sleeping more. If you'd like to know why...keep reading.
Cinque Terre, or the five lands, is a rugged part of the coast on the Italian Riviera just west of La Spezia. Cinque Terre is comprised of five villages: Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniligia, Vernazza, and Monterosso al Mare. So, Cinque Terre our destination, Claire, Dave, Matt, Paul, Jessie, Theresa, and I prepared to leave Thursday night. We missed the 7:10 PM bus from Settignano (kind of my fault) and so we waited for the 7:30 PM bus. As we waited, I got my 3rd nosebleed in the past 2 days. I'm pretty sure it's from all the dry air here, but it was still annoying. With tissues in my nose, we boarded the bus headed for the Florence train station. All of us had a backpack on, which we had to carry around the whole trip. After purchasing our train tickets in Florence, we boarded the train headed for La Spezia.
On the ride there, we played a game, talked, and probably annoyed the rest of the travelers in our train car. We made several stops along the way. In Pisa we had to switch trains. As we waited, we saw that the screen changed telling us that the train headed for La Spezia was now the same train we got off of. Getting back on and returning to the same seats, we headed to La Spezia. When we arrived it was completely dark out, except for city and streets lights. The train station was pretty sketch at night, so we were all glad that we had the boys with us. We followed the arrows pointing to taxis down an alley way. At the taxis, we split up into 2 cars. I had a copy of the directions to our hostel and so did Paul. Half the group went with him and the other half with me (Claire, Dave, and Jessie). Our destination was Ostello Tramonti (hostel tramonti). This was our first taxi drive...and let me tell you, Italian taxi drivers are maniacs!! Flying down the streets of La Spezia, we began conversation with our Italian speaking driver. He was quite fun to talk to and helped us say things in Italian. We asked the questions we knew how to ask, such as: "what's your name? where are you from? and a few others. His name was Camello and I'm pretty sure that he was telling us that he went to school in the Ostello Tramonti when it used to be an elementary school.
We arrived at our hostel and Camello hopped out. He opened my door for me and then proceeded to the trunk to help us get our packbacks. The ride cost 20 E. He pointed us to the right building and we hesitantly walked the ramp up to the hostel door. There we met up with Paul, Matt, and Theresa. The receptionist checked our passports, grabbed keys and bedding, and led us to our 2 rooms. The guys stayed in one and we girls went to the other room 3 doors down. All of us were fairly creeped out, mostly because it was our first hostel experience. I'd say that we lucked out in the end. It was clean and looked like a dormroom with 2 bunkbeds and lockers. Before going to bed, we made up a special knock with the guys in case they needed to knock on our door. We made our beds with the bedding and went to bed. I was so exhausted that I fell asleep right away. I woke to Jessie climbing down from the top bunk asking if she should open the door. I hadn't heard a knock, but apparently there had been one (not the special knock though). After a quick debate with the other girls she opened the door...no one there. At that point it was 6:42 AM...3 minutes before our alarm was going to go off. We got up and got ready for the day and ate some breakfast.
At 7:15 AM we met up with the boys, checked out of the hostel, and waited at the bus stop. The weather was great and warm! We made it to the first village in Cinque Terre (Riomaggiore). We walked to a dock that looked over the Mediterranean, it was beautiful! We had to get tickets into the park and then we started our hike (it was about 8:30 AM). The paths started out wide and with a railing, but we should not have gotten used to that. Basically the path that leads through all the villages goes up and down and all around several mountains/hills. The paths are built into the side and the total distance is around 9 miles. As the hike continues, the harder it gets.
Since we had checked out of the hostel we had to carry our backpacks everywhere we went. They got really heavy. We made it 2 the second village, filled our water bottles, and headed to the 3rd. By now the path was narrower, had more ups and downs, and slightly longer. We were almost to the 3rd village when we looked up and saw tons of stone steps zig zagging up the side of the hill. There were so many!! At the top it said, "congratulations, you just climbed 382 steps". We thought this was an accomplishment...hah! boy we were in for it. After a 10 minute break we continued on to the 4th village.
The path to the 4th village was much longer, much harder, very exhausting! The paths were quite narrow, the railings disappeared, and a lot of it was downhill. This was worse for me because it was harder on my knees and ankles. There were many vineyards all around us, which was really cool. We were so hot and sweaty and our muscles were beginning to get shaky. In my opinion, this was the hardest distance between villages. We arrived in the 4th village (Finally!!!) and decided to eat lunch. We found some pizza/foccacia sandwiches for around 2 E. We sat on some steps outside of the shops and ate. After almost an hour we left for the 5th village. Sitting down for lunch didn't help our muscles out too much. It was harder to keep going, but it helped to know that we would be able to swim on the beach at the end of it! The last distance was so long! Thankfully it was more uphill and straight paths than downhill. My muscles were so fatigued that I couldn't stop for a breather, otherwise, it was much harder to continue. As we neared the beach, the paths were so narrow that it was basically single file the whole way. This was quite tricky when we had to pass people. When this happened someone had to find a wider spot so the other could pass. The drop off on the edge of the path was quite steep...soooo, avoiding these situations was best.
The closer we got to the beach the more excited we got. I'm glad we had that to look forward to! Finally, we arrived at Monterosso (the last and final village). It took about 5+ hours to complete our hike. Claire, Jessie and I found a little outdoor room to change in. We didn't realize it was a private room belonging to a private part of the beach until a man started banging on the door and yelled, "privado" at us. We hurriedly finished changing and exited. We met up with the boys and told them we had to find a different part of the beach. Once we did, we figured out who would stay back and watch the backpacks first. The rest of us ran into the Mediterranean. The water was chilly at first, but once I went under the water it felt great! It was so salty that I felt like I had eaten a salt shaker. After swimming a while Jess and I took our shift with the backpacks.
We went back out to swim later on and swam out to some rocks. Four of us just sat there a while and enjoyed the view and the waves. Getting off the rocks was tricky. I went first and held onto Matt's hand. I didn't realize that the rock I stepped onto was so slippery with moss. Sooooo, my right foot started slipping and my left tried to balance. It didn't work. As I continued slipping I pulled Matt along with me. His arm and leg hit the rock and my pinky toe on my right foot slammed into the rock. It hurt a lot and started bleeding. The salty water got in it and made it sting worse. Once everyone else got off the rocks we swam back to shore. My toe was throbbing and bleeding. It felt like I had slammed it in a door or something.
After sunbathing a while and talking we went to find the train station. Walking definitely hurt my foot, which was frustrating. By now it was about 4 in the afternoon. We found an outdoor wine bar and shared a bottle...quite fun. Then we walked (and I hobbled) to the train station, bought our tickets, and ran to the train. We rode that train to La Spezia, Pisa, and then to Florence. My toe was throbbing by now and so I took some ibuprofen. We arrived in Florence, hopped on our bus back to Settignano, and made it to the Villa!
I'm pretty sure that Cinque Terre is my favorite place so far. I'd really like to ride the train back sometime to swim...not hike. Yesterday (Saturday) I stayed around the Villa and relaxed.
Anyway, that is all for now. I hope everything is going well there.
Love from Italia!
Anna
I hope this finds you all having a wonderful day in the States. It's around 1:45 PM here in Italia, so most of you are probably still getting up for the day since it's around 6:45 AM there. Not to say that I'm up and getting around already...I'm actually quite exhausted and feel like sleeping more. If you'd like to know why...keep reading.
Cinque Terre, or the five lands, is a rugged part of the coast on the Italian Riviera just west of La Spezia. Cinque Terre is comprised of five villages: Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniligia, Vernazza, and Monterosso al Mare. So, Cinque Terre our destination, Claire, Dave, Matt, Paul, Jessie, Theresa, and I prepared to leave Thursday night. We missed the 7:10 PM bus from Settignano (kind of my fault) and so we waited for the 7:30 PM bus. As we waited, I got my 3rd nosebleed in the past 2 days. I'm pretty sure it's from all the dry air here, but it was still annoying. With tissues in my nose, we boarded the bus headed for the Florence train station. All of us had a backpack on, which we had to carry around the whole trip. After purchasing our train tickets in Florence, we boarded the train headed for La Spezia.
On the ride there, we played a game, talked, and probably annoyed the rest of the travelers in our train car. We made several stops along the way. In Pisa we had to switch trains. As we waited, we saw that the screen changed telling us that the train headed for La Spezia was now the same train we got off of. Getting back on and returning to the same seats, we headed to La Spezia. When we arrived it was completely dark out, except for city and streets lights. The train station was pretty sketch at night, so we were all glad that we had the boys with us. We followed the arrows pointing to taxis down an alley way. At the taxis, we split up into 2 cars. I had a copy of the directions to our hostel and so did Paul. Half the group went with him and the other half with me (Claire, Dave, and Jessie). Our destination was Ostello Tramonti (hostel tramonti). This was our first taxi drive...and let me tell you, Italian taxi drivers are maniacs!! Flying down the streets of La Spezia, we began conversation with our Italian speaking driver. He was quite fun to talk to and helped us say things in Italian. We asked the questions we knew how to ask, such as: "what's your name? where are you from? and a few others. His name was Camello and I'm pretty sure that he was telling us that he went to school in the Ostello Tramonti when it used to be an elementary school.
We arrived at our hostel and Camello hopped out. He opened my door for me and then proceeded to the trunk to help us get our packbacks. The ride cost 20 E. He pointed us to the right building and we hesitantly walked the ramp up to the hostel door. There we met up with Paul, Matt, and Theresa. The receptionist checked our passports, grabbed keys and bedding, and led us to our 2 rooms. The guys stayed in one and we girls went to the other room 3 doors down. All of us were fairly creeped out, mostly because it was our first hostel experience. I'd say that we lucked out in the end. It was clean and looked like a dormroom with 2 bunkbeds and lockers. Before going to bed, we made up a special knock with the guys in case they needed to knock on our door. We made our beds with the bedding and went to bed. I was so exhausted that I fell asleep right away. I woke to Jessie climbing down from the top bunk asking if she should open the door. I hadn't heard a knock, but apparently there had been one (not the special knock though). After a quick debate with the other girls she opened the door...no one there. At that point it was 6:42 AM...3 minutes before our alarm was going to go off. We got up and got ready for the day and ate some breakfast.
At 7:15 AM we met up with the boys, checked out of the hostel, and waited at the bus stop. The weather was great and warm! We made it to the first village in Cinque Terre (Riomaggiore). We walked to a dock that looked over the Mediterranean, it was beautiful! We had to get tickets into the park and then we started our hike (it was about 8:30 AM). The paths started out wide and with a railing, but we should not have gotten used to that. Basically the path that leads through all the villages goes up and down and all around several mountains/hills. The paths are built into the side and the total distance is around 9 miles. As the hike continues, the harder it gets.
Since we had checked out of the hostel we had to carry our backpacks everywhere we went. They got really heavy. We made it 2 the second village, filled our water bottles, and headed to the 3rd. By now the path was narrower, had more ups and downs, and slightly longer. We were almost to the 3rd village when we looked up and saw tons of stone steps zig zagging up the side of the hill. There were so many!! At the top it said, "congratulations, you just climbed 382 steps". We thought this was an accomplishment...hah! boy we were in for it. After a 10 minute break we continued on to the 4th village.
The path to the 4th village was much longer, much harder, very exhausting! The paths were quite narrow, the railings disappeared, and a lot of it was downhill. This was worse for me because it was harder on my knees and ankles. There were many vineyards all around us, which was really cool. We were so hot and sweaty and our muscles were beginning to get shaky. In my opinion, this was the hardest distance between villages. We arrived in the 4th village (Finally!!!) and decided to eat lunch. We found some pizza/foccacia sandwiches for around 2 E. We sat on some steps outside of the shops and ate. After almost an hour we left for the 5th village. Sitting down for lunch didn't help our muscles out too much. It was harder to keep going, but it helped to know that we would be able to swim on the beach at the end of it! The last distance was so long! Thankfully it was more uphill and straight paths than downhill. My muscles were so fatigued that I couldn't stop for a breather, otherwise, it was much harder to continue. As we neared the beach, the paths were so narrow that it was basically single file the whole way. This was quite tricky when we had to pass people. When this happened someone had to find a wider spot so the other could pass. The drop off on the edge of the path was quite steep...soooo, avoiding these situations was best.
The closer we got to the beach the more excited we got. I'm glad we had that to look forward to! Finally, we arrived at Monterosso (the last and final village). It took about 5+ hours to complete our hike. Claire, Jessie and I found a little outdoor room to change in. We didn't realize it was a private room belonging to a private part of the beach until a man started banging on the door and yelled, "privado" at us. We hurriedly finished changing and exited. We met up with the boys and told them we had to find a different part of the beach. Once we did, we figured out who would stay back and watch the backpacks first. The rest of us ran into the Mediterranean. The water was chilly at first, but once I went under the water it felt great! It was so salty that I felt like I had eaten a salt shaker. After swimming a while Jess and I took our shift with the backpacks.
We went back out to swim later on and swam out to some rocks. Four of us just sat there a while and enjoyed the view and the waves. Getting off the rocks was tricky. I went first and held onto Matt's hand. I didn't realize that the rock I stepped onto was so slippery with moss. Sooooo, my right foot started slipping and my left tried to balance. It didn't work. As I continued slipping I pulled Matt along with me. His arm and leg hit the rock and my pinky toe on my right foot slammed into the rock. It hurt a lot and started bleeding. The salty water got in it and made it sting worse. Once everyone else got off the rocks we swam back to shore. My toe was throbbing and bleeding. It felt like I had slammed it in a door or something.
After sunbathing a while and talking we went to find the train station. Walking definitely hurt my foot, which was frustrating. By now it was about 4 in the afternoon. We found an outdoor wine bar and shared a bottle...quite fun. Then we walked (and I hobbled) to the train station, bought our tickets, and ran to the train. We rode that train to La Spezia, Pisa, and then to Florence. My toe was throbbing by now and so I took some ibuprofen. We arrived in Florence, hopped on our bus back to Settignano, and made it to the Villa!
I'm pretty sure that Cinque Terre is my favorite place so far. I'd really like to ride the train back sometime to swim...not hike. Yesterday (Saturday) I stayed around the Villa and relaxed.
Anyway, that is all for now. I hope everything is going well there.
Love from Italia!
Anna
Sunday, September 6, 2009
The week in review
Ciao!
A week has almost gone by since I arrived in Italy. So much has already happened, it's crazy. Wednesday was our first day of class. First we had an orientation meeting, followed by our Florentine Art and History class. Our teacher, Francesco, is sort of like a tour guide here in Italy. He taught us class for 2 hours, we had lunch, and then we all rode the bus down to Florence to visit the places we had just talked about in class. We walked by the "Duomo", which is a huge gorgeous church. Along the way, Francesco would stop and teach us about different things. We went inside the Basilica of Santa Croce. Also a beautiful church, it is the home of the graves of many famous people. For example, Michelangelo and Galileo are buried there. The art and architecture inside was amazing! We walked through the streets more and ended up in the piazza where a replica of The David is. After we were done walking around for class, we split off into different groups. We went and got gelato. I tried a small cone of chocolate mint so I could compare it to America's. I have to say that I like America's better. But, I think that the fruit gelati will be much better. I have yet to try them yet. That night we had a dance party with some local Italians. They taught us Italian songs and dances, it was fun.
Thursday we had Italian class in the morning. My teacher's name is Giovanni. He speaks in Italian during class with only a couple English words now and then. It was overwhelming at first trying to figure out what he was saying. Once I got the hang of it, it got easier. He uses actions and a marker board to help explain things to us. That class lasted 2 hours as well. In the afternoon we had our Saints and Mystics of Italy class, also 2 hours. That evening I went into Florence with a few people to the Piazza di Michelangelo. Here you can look out over the whole city of Florence. It was amazing at night! I want to go back again sometime during daylight. On the way back we stopped at a cute little pizzaria. I didn't get anything, pretty sure that didn't make them very happy. haha
Friday we had Italian class in the morning. After that I went into Florence to the market. There people sell clothes, purses, hats, books...etc. It was pretty cool. We walked around the market for a while and then explored other streets and shops in Florence. It was quite fun. By the time we got back my legs were quite tired. But, I went on another walk later that night with 3 others. The road led us down and around Settignano. It was an enjoyable walk.
Yesterday nearly all of us took the bus to Fiazole, a town on a hill similar to Settignano. There we climbed to a great lookout above Florence and ate our lunch. We did some other exploring and made our way to cool looking building (maybe a museum) and we sat out on the steps and enjoyed the afternoon. On the way back, some of us stopped at the Coop, a local grocery store. We bought some bread, ham, and cheese for our dinner that night. As we headed up the hill on a bus to our Villa, we met another bus going the opposite direction. The roads are very very narrow and there were cars lined up behind both busses. The bus drivers had to have a momentary conference about how to handle the situation. They did quite the maneuvering before we eventually squeezed on by. Driving in Italy is scary!!! I spent some time with my professor's family that evening. He and his wife have 4 boys (12, 9, 5, and 2). They were a lot of fun.
Anyway, today I went to Mass in Italian just up the hill in Settignano. I felt like I was sitting there with a bunch of Nana's. :-) I did homework, went on a walk, and just relaxed. It's been a good day. Tomorrow we will have Art and History class by touring more in Florence and also class in the classroom.
I hope you all are well. I love and miss you.
Buononotte! ...as we like to say here. :-D
Anna
A week has almost gone by since I arrived in Italy. So much has already happened, it's crazy. Wednesday was our first day of class. First we had an orientation meeting, followed by our Florentine Art and History class. Our teacher, Francesco, is sort of like a tour guide here in Italy. He taught us class for 2 hours, we had lunch, and then we all rode the bus down to Florence to visit the places we had just talked about in class. We walked by the "Duomo", which is a huge gorgeous church. Along the way, Francesco would stop and teach us about different things. We went inside the Basilica of Santa Croce. Also a beautiful church, it is the home of the graves of many famous people. For example, Michelangelo and Galileo are buried there. The art and architecture inside was amazing! We walked through the streets more and ended up in the piazza where a replica of The David is. After we were done walking around for class, we split off into different groups. We went and got gelato. I tried a small cone of chocolate mint so I could compare it to America's. I have to say that I like America's better. But, I think that the fruit gelati will be much better. I have yet to try them yet. That night we had a dance party with some local Italians. They taught us Italian songs and dances, it was fun.
Thursday we had Italian class in the morning. My teacher's name is Giovanni. He speaks in Italian during class with only a couple English words now and then. It was overwhelming at first trying to figure out what he was saying. Once I got the hang of it, it got easier. He uses actions and a marker board to help explain things to us. That class lasted 2 hours as well. In the afternoon we had our Saints and Mystics of Italy class, also 2 hours. That evening I went into Florence with a few people to the Piazza di Michelangelo. Here you can look out over the whole city of Florence. It was amazing at night! I want to go back again sometime during daylight. On the way back we stopped at a cute little pizzaria. I didn't get anything, pretty sure that didn't make them very happy. haha
Friday we had Italian class in the morning. After that I went into Florence to the market. There people sell clothes, purses, hats, books...etc. It was pretty cool. We walked around the market for a while and then explored other streets and shops in Florence. It was quite fun. By the time we got back my legs were quite tired. But, I went on another walk later that night with 3 others. The road led us down and around Settignano. It was an enjoyable walk.
Yesterday nearly all of us took the bus to Fiazole, a town on a hill similar to Settignano. There we climbed to a great lookout above Florence and ate our lunch. We did some other exploring and made our way to cool looking building (maybe a museum) and we sat out on the steps and enjoyed the afternoon. On the way back, some of us stopped at the Coop, a local grocery store. We bought some bread, ham, and cheese for our dinner that night. As we headed up the hill on a bus to our Villa, we met another bus going the opposite direction. The roads are very very narrow and there were cars lined up behind both busses. The bus drivers had to have a momentary conference about how to handle the situation. They did quite the maneuvering before we eventually squeezed on by. Driving in Italy is scary!!! I spent some time with my professor's family that evening. He and his wife have 4 boys (12, 9, 5, and 2). They were a lot of fun.
Anyway, today I went to Mass in Italian just up the hill in Settignano. I felt like I was sitting there with a bunch of Nana's. :-) I did homework, went on a walk, and just relaxed. It's been a good day. Tomorrow we will have Art and History class by touring more in Florence and also class in the classroom.
I hope you all are well. I love and miss you.
Buononotte! ...as we like to say here. :-D
Anna
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
planes, trains, busses and walks...
Ciao!
Well, here are I am. Sorry it's taken me a while to get this blog going. Our internet doesn't always work, especially in my room. As I'm sure you are anxious to hear how things have gone, I won't delay any longer.
Sunday, August 30th my parents drove Rachel, Jordan, and I to my roommate Jessie's house in Minnesota. After we got there, we had a relaxing afternoon and evening. Monday began crazy. The 4 of us scurried around to finish last minute packing and errands. After weighing our bags one last time and rearranging a few things, we left her house around 12:45 PM. We proceeded to the airport. Check-in went fairly well. We got our tickets, checked-in our luggage, and went through security without any problems. It was stressful at first, but I made it through all that. We boarded our plane eventually for Detroit. I had a window seat next to Jessie and the other 2 were across the isle from us. I've never flown before and I have to say, it was awesome!!! The flight was smooth and most of the time I just watched out my window.
We arrived in Detroit around 6:00 PM Detroit time (5:00 PM Iowa time). We made our way to the next gate on the moving walk, which was fun. :-) Our flight to Rome wasn't until 7:45 PM, so we had quite a while to wait around. While waiting, it already felt like we were in a foreign country because half the passengers were Italians returning home. We boarded our international plane, which was much larger, but they were fixing the brakes so the air conditioning was off. It was so hot and stuffy in there for nearly an hour while we waited! Once the brakes were fixed, we took off for Rome! The 4 of us were together in the middle row. We were served a snack and a dinner (not good at all). We tried to sleep on the plane. I was not successful, which made for a really long 8+ hour flight As we neared Rome we could see dry and hilly land and old farms/buildings. We landed around 10:00 AM Rome time (4:00 AM Iowa time). When we landed they didn't bring the plane up to a terminal or anything. They let us out down steps from the back and the front (like the President)...we felt famous. The group of us just stood in a huddle waiting for directions. haha
It was very hot!!!! The 4 of us met up with 2 other fellow classmates, who were also on our plane, and we waited for a shuttle to the airport doors. All the passengers from our flight squished into 2 shuttle busses. It was so hot, sweaty, and packed with people and backpacks/bags. We were dropped off at the door of the airport. From there we made our way to the immigration lines with our passports. I made it through successfully! No going back now...
After getting through, we followed signs to baggage. To be honest, the area of the airport we were in was not as big as I had expected. It gave the impression of a basement, which made it a bit creepy and gloomy feeling. There were a ton of baggage claim areas. We looked around for others from our flight and read a computer screen to find out where we needed to go. Eventually we figured out that we had to go to #8. Oh, and the airport doesn't have air conditioning, so you can imagine how hot, sweaty and gross we all were. We waited and watched the same luggage go around and around for at least an hour and a half, maybe longer. Ours finally came!! We piled all our packpacks and bags back on and pulled our luggage. Off to customs! Which by the way, ended up being nothing. There was a green sign and arrow for people that didn't need to request anything and a red sign and arrow for those that did. We didn't think we had anything to request, nor was there anyone to ask...so, we followed the green arrow and entered the outer part of the airport.
There was a large group of Italians standing there with signs yelling and looking for people they were meeting at the airport. We passed them and immediately were approached my an Italian man. I was in the front of our group so he talked to me first. He asked if we needed to get to the train station, to which I said yes. Then he asked if he could take us to it in his shuttle or whatever. I said no, but asked him which direction to walk to the train station. He told me to take 2 lefts and go up a flight of stairs and some other things. We continued walking, only to have this similar situation happen a time or two more. We made it to the stairs, but unfortunately the ascending escalator was broken. So, instead of hauling our suitcases and bags up a ton of stairs, we decided to follow the signs to the elevator. The 6 of us couldn't fit at the same time, as there were others already on it when we arrived. I was standing in the back of the elevator facing the door and Jessie was to the left of the door (this is important...really). Because...Jessie was standing next to a lady, and a man was beside her. As we were going up, I look over and see the woman's hand in a position to slide it up the flap of Jessie's shoulder bag. At first I didn't think I was actually seen it and I was about to give her the benefit of the doubt when my brain said, "you idiot! you're in italy, do something". So, I reached across the elevator and gently shoved her bag in front of her. The woman's hand pulled back and Jess caught my eye and pulled her bag in front of her. The door opened right after that and we got off. At this point we decided it would be smart to put our locks on our bags.
We kept walking and followed the signs to the train station. There were people walking everywhere. We went to buy our tickets from a ticket stand and we were sent to a different one. We bought our tickets, stamped them, and waited for the train that was to take us to Termini train station in Rome. On the way Jess and I sat across from middle aged couple from Scotland (I believe). They had amazing accents and were so fun to listen to! When we arrived in Rome we had to find where our next train to Florence. We couldn't find it on the board. Our ticket number matched a train to Milan. Unsure of what to do or where to go we looked around for train station workers. We spotted some and I was able to use my first Italian (parla inglese?). The man shook his head no and smiled at me. He looked at my ticket anyway and said, "Milano". I asked about Florence and the man next to him informed me that the Milan train stopped in Florence. Knowing this, we kept on walking and headed for the right track. To do this we had to go down below and cross underneath tracks until we reached ours. It looked and felt like a basement down there, kind of creepy. We waited for the train, finally sitting down for a break! By the way, we finally got a bottle of water when we got to Rome. We were sooooo thirsty!! 5 minutes before our train was supposed to be there, Jordan (thankfully!!!!) saw the computer screen change, telling us that our train was leaving from a different track. We grabbed all our stuff and ran back down to the creepy basement and crossed over to another track. Our train had just arrived and there were people getting on and off everywhere. We hurried to find the right car and we boarded.
By this time it was about 2:15 PM Rome time and I'd been awake for like 26 hours...I think. I'm so tired I'm having a hard time counting that right now. Anyway, our train ride to Rome was my real first look at Italy. The view from my window was great! It was about a 2 hour train ride and our first real sit down after getting off the plane. I tried so hard to stay awake, it was hard! We arrived in Florence, exited the train, and headed for the train station exit. From there we had to find a bus that would take us to our Villa. After wandering around for some time and asking several Italians (who all told us different things), we found a ticket booth and made our way to the bus stop. When it arrived, we piled all our stuff onto it...and there was a lot! The bus was hot and got more and more crowded as we made stops along the way. I'm pretty sure the local Italians hated us because of all our stuff....oops, making a real great first impression. We made it to the drop-off in Settignano without flaw. We got off the bus and had to walk down a cobblestone road. I'm pretty sure this wasn't the greatest on our suitcase wheels. We took some narrow streets, walked down a steep alley, and entered our Villa. As we were arriving, fellow classmates were hanging out the window waving at us. It was soooo relieving to have gotten there safe and sound with a fairly smooth trip. We were all exhausted, very hungry and thirsty! Thank you to everyone who gave advice on how to get there. It really did help!!!
The Villa is great and the people that work here are so nice. We can't upload pictures very well, otherwise I would put some up. The food is delicious...for the most part. We started classes and have explored Florence a number of times. I will have to write more very soon about the days that followed our arrival. But, that is all for now. :-D
I love and miss you all, hope everything is great in the states.
Buonanotte!
Anna
Well, here are I am. Sorry it's taken me a while to get this blog going. Our internet doesn't always work, especially in my room. As I'm sure you are anxious to hear how things have gone, I won't delay any longer.
Sunday, August 30th my parents drove Rachel, Jordan, and I to my roommate Jessie's house in Minnesota. After we got there, we had a relaxing afternoon and evening. Monday began crazy. The 4 of us scurried around to finish last minute packing and errands. After weighing our bags one last time and rearranging a few things, we left her house around 12:45 PM. We proceeded to the airport. Check-in went fairly well. We got our tickets, checked-in our luggage, and went through security without any problems. It was stressful at first, but I made it through all that. We boarded our plane eventually for Detroit. I had a window seat next to Jessie and the other 2 were across the isle from us. I've never flown before and I have to say, it was awesome!!! The flight was smooth and most of the time I just watched out my window.
We arrived in Detroit around 6:00 PM Detroit time (5:00 PM Iowa time). We made our way to the next gate on the moving walk, which was fun. :-) Our flight to Rome wasn't until 7:45 PM, so we had quite a while to wait around. While waiting, it already felt like we were in a foreign country because half the passengers were Italians returning home. We boarded our international plane, which was much larger, but they were fixing the brakes so the air conditioning was off. It was so hot and stuffy in there for nearly an hour while we waited! Once the brakes were fixed, we took off for Rome! The 4 of us were together in the middle row. We were served a snack and a dinner (not good at all). We tried to sleep on the plane. I was not successful, which made for a really long 8+ hour flight As we neared Rome we could see dry and hilly land and old farms/buildings. We landed around 10:00 AM Rome time (4:00 AM Iowa time). When we landed they didn't bring the plane up to a terminal or anything. They let us out down steps from the back and the front (like the President)...we felt famous. The group of us just stood in a huddle waiting for directions. haha
It was very hot!!!! The 4 of us met up with 2 other fellow classmates, who were also on our plane, and we waited for a shuttle to the airport doors. All the passengers from our flight squished into 2 shuttle busses. It was so hot, sweaty, and packed with people and backpacks/bags. We were dropped off at the door of the airport. From there we made our way to the immigration lines with our passports. I made it through successfully! No going back now...
After getting through, we followed signs to baggage. To be honest, the area of the airport we were in was not as big as I had expected. It gave the impression of a basement, which made it a bit creepy and gloomy feeling. There were a ton of baggage claim areas. We looked around for others from our flight and read a computer screen to find out where we needed to go. Eventually we figured out that we had to go to #8. Oh, and the airport doesn't have air conditioning, so you can imagine how hot, sweaty and gross we all were. We waited and watched the same luggage go around and around for at least an hour and a half, maybe longer. Ours finally came!! We piled all our packpacks and bags back on and pulled our luggage. Off to customs! Which by the way, ended up being nothing. There was a green sign and arrow for people that didn't need to request anything and a red sign and arrow for those that did. We didn't think we had anything to request, nor was there anyone to ask...so, we followed the green arrow and entered the outer part of the airport.
There was a large group of Italians standing there with signs yelling and looking for people they were meeting at the airport. We passed them and immediately were approached my an Italian man. I was in the front of our group so he talked to me first. He asked if we needed to get to the train station, to which I said yes. Then he asked if he could take us to it in his shuttle or whatever. I said no, but asked him which direction to walk to the train station. He told me to take 2 lefts and go up a flight of stairs and some other things. We continued walking, only to have this similar situation happen a time or two more. We made it to the stairs, but unfortunately the ascending escalator was broken. So, instead of hauling our suitcases and bags up a ton of stairs, we decided to follow the signs to the elevator. The 6 of us couldn't fit at the same time, as there were others already on it when we arrived. I was standing in the back of the elevator facing the door and Jessie was to the left of the door (this is important...really). Because...Jessie was standing next to a lady, and a man was beside her. As we were going up, I look over and see the woman's hand in a position to slide it up the flap of Jessie's shoulder bag. At first I didn't think I was actually seen it and I was about to give her the benefit of the doubt when my brain said, "you idiot! you're in italy, do something". So, I reached across the elevator and gently shoved her bag in front of her. The woman's hand pulled back and Jess caught my eye and pulled her bag in front of her. The door opened right after that and we got off. At this point we decided it would be smart to put our locks on our bags.
We kept walking and followed the signs to the train station. There were people walking everywhere. We went to buy our tickets from a ticket stand and we were sent to a different one. We bought our tickets, stamped them, and waited for the train that was to take us to Termini train station in Rome. On the way Jess and I sat across from middle aged couple from Scotland (I believe). They had amazing accents and were so fun to listen to! When we arrived in Rome we had to find where our next train to Florence. We couldn't find it on the board. Our ticket number matched a train to Milan. Unsure of what to do or where to go we looked around for train station workers. We spotted some and I was able to use my first Italian (parla inglese?). The man shook his head no and smiled at me. He looked at my ticket anyway and said, "Milano". I asked about Florence and the man next to him informed me that the Milan train stopped in Florence. Knowing this, we kept on walking and headed for the right track. To do this we had to go down below and cross underneath tracks until we reached ours. It looked and felt like a basement down there, kind of creepy. We waited for the train, finally sitting down for a break! By the way, we finally got a bottle of water when we got to Rome. We were sooooo thirsty!! 5 minutes before our train was supposed to be there, Jordan (thankfully!!!!) saw the computer screen change, telling us that our train was leaving from a different track. We grabbed all our stuff and ran back down to the creepy basement and crossed over to another track. Our train had just arrived and there were people getting on and off everywhere. We hurried to find the right car and we boarded.
By this time it was about 2:15 PM Rome time and I'd been awake for like 26 hours...I think. I'm so tired I'm having a hard time counting that right now. Anyway, our train ride to Rome was my real first look at Italy. The view from my window was great! It was about a 2 hour train ride and our first real sit down after getting off the plane. I tried so hard to stay awake, it was hard! We arrived in Florence, exited the train, and headed for the train station exit. From there we had to find a bus that would take us to our Villa. After wandering around for some time and asking several Italians (who all told us different things), we found a ticket booth and made our way to the bus stop. When it arrived, we piled all our stuff onto it...and there was a lot! The bus was hot and got more and more crowded as we made stops along the way. I'm pretty sure the local Italians hated us because of all our stuff....oops, making a real great first impression. We made it to the drop-off in Settignano without flaw. We got off the bus and had to walk down a cobblestone road. I'm pretty sure this wasn't the greatest on our suitcase wheels. We took some narrow streets, walked down a steep alley, and entered our Villa. As we were arriving, fellow classmates were hanging out the window waving at us. It was soooo relieving to have gotten there safe and sound with a fairly smooth trip. We were all exhausted, very hungry and thirsty! Thank you to everyone who gave advice on how to get there. It really did help!!!
The Villa is great and the people that work here are so nice. We can't upload pictures very well, otherwise I would put some up. The food is delicious...for the most part. We started classes and have explored Florence a number of times. I will have to write more very soon about the days that followed our arrival. But, that is all for now. :-D
I love and miss you all, hope everything is great in the states.
Buonanotte!
Anna
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