week 2&3 of this whole "study" abroad thing

The week that classes start, the real reason I’m here. Putting the “study” part in “Study abroad.”  I’m taking 19 credits on the semester schedule.  I don’t do well with the whole sitting in front of a professor listening to them lecture. I need some sort of activity or movement.  I have 1 three hour class and that is just a lot to handle. 

            Besides school I went to Assisi last Friday with some friends. Saint Francis is from Assisi and that’s who the current Pope takes his name from.  The town was absolutely gorgeous.  The fortress Rocca Magerino that we used as our playground is from the year 1164! The town’s motto is “pace e bene” (peace and well).  It was definitely peaceful.  The church of Francis was one of my favorite churches I’ve ever been in. It was stunning with different churches inside the whole basilica.  Francis’ tomb was there too.  The nice 2:45 train ride (30euro) through Tuscany was pretty. 

            We’ve all continued eating our way through Italy. Everyone said the food in Italy was guaranteed to be better than it was in Chile and that has been true (although there are a few foods I miss like avocado).  This place called “Gusta Pizza” came highly recommended by every one of my friends who have studied in Florence.  It is divine. Thick crust on the outside but thin everywhere else. Fire grilled for only a few minutes and you have perfection. I recommend adding pesto to anything! Saturday we went to Tijuana.  Nope it’s not Italian but rather Mexican! I was so happy to eat avocado again after not having it for a month. It was a really good Mexican restaurant complete with a lady walking around serenading everyone.  I got to practice my Spanish too.

            Saturday my friend and I wound up at service at the local synagogue. Neither of us is Jewish, but we wanted to see the synagogue and this way we didn’t have to pay to tour it. I have taken a Judaism class and been to 2 reform services but this was something else. All the women sat behind a lattice gate separated from the men and the rest of the service. It was more of a social event with the women as they conversed the whole time.  The service was completely in Hebrew and that’s a language I know none of. 

            I climbed the Duomo in Florence this week and the tower. In total up and back for both the climbs it was over 1700 steps! Beautiful views of Florence though. I also hung out with David for awhile. David being the real life Statue of David. Michelangelo’s famous piece from the 1500’s. He’s quite impressive standing 20 feet tall. Apparently proof is in the pictures and since I’m a rule follower I didn’t take any pictures because that’s against the rules. Maybe, just maybe, next time I’ll be rebellious and try and snag a picture.

            Yesterday a few of us girls went to Lucca for the day. Everyone said the town was pretty dead, but we found it quite alive. We rented bikes for an hour (3euro) and rode the 2.5 miles of the city walls. I highly recommend visiting Lucca. The trip was much needed to get to some open space and greenery.

          

I think I miss South America more than the US. It’s kind of funny, because I was definitely ready to leave when I did in December but I find myself missing it and the people. Don’t get me wrong Italy is beautiful, but there’s just some sort of adventure that goes along with South America. It’s a sense of adventure when you buy a round trip bus ticket for only 40USD and you hop on with people and all their animals, food products and huge suitcases. It’s an adventure when there was never any toilet paper around. It’s an adventure with all the haggling by street vendors. I miss all it’s chaos.  Every time I walk on the cobblestone streets here I’m amazed by the beauty all around me, but I’m also reminded that I’m a mountain girl who needs fresh air, green grass and mountains. Or at least some sort of open space where I can see the horizon like the ocean I had in Chile.

When in Rome

St. Peters

All roads lead to Rome right? Well last Thursday we left from Florence to Rome via a 4 hour tour bus. Gosh I felt right back in Chile riding a bus again.  This bus differed from South America in that it was equipped with outlets and wifi. Yep you heard that correctly, except the wifi worked intermittently. All 140 of us made it to Rome just in time for a 3 hour walking tour.  We were your typical tourists in groups of 14 with an Italian guide each equipped with earphones to hear her.  I've studied European/world history but it's a completely different experience to turn a corner and see the Pantheon, walk another 10 minutes and sit on the spanish steps and 10 minutes later you find yourself throwing a coin behind you over your left shoulder into the Trevi Fountain making a wish.  Rome has done an incredible job where they take all this ancient history for literally thousands of years ago and combine it with "modern" architecture from only a couple hundred years ago. I made some friends that night in Saint Ignatius church. The friends happened to be 40 nuns from around the world. Those of you who know me know the joke that my parents think I might become a nun one day. I can assure that I don't foresee that in my future, but the nuns are nice ladies nonetheless.  Thursday night was a 5 course dinner at a fancy restaurant with

Trevi Fountain

a true Italian playing the keyboard and occasionally blowing way too loudly into a whistle. Quite the experience doing the YMCA to a live version with 140 other Americans at a fancy Italian restaurant.  In Italian bread and vegetables are common for a starter, then you have some sort of past dish (or 2), then it's a main course with meat, then salad and topped off with dessert. The dinner was amazing and everyone enjoyed the bottles of red wine the waiters kept bringing out. Friday we went to the Colosseum and Roman Forum and explored on our own. How the Romans built a structure that stands thousands of years later is crazy to me. Smart men.  Lunch was a panini (actually panino because panini means multiple sandwiches). Friday afternoon we went to an art museum. I think we were all too tired because walking around you saw lots of heads nodding and irritated people. The ceilings were filled with incredible art which I admire because who has the patience to stare up or lie on their back painting above them? not me.  Saturday was a tour of the Vatican and that was incredible. 28 thousand visitors come each day to the holy place. After going through the equivalent of airport security we were inside the museum. Again we had a tour guide and were shoveled through the crowd like we were being pushed into a store on black Friday. The Sistine Chapel is beautiful, but people still proceeded to pull out their cameras and talk both of which are strictly prohibited. St. Peter's Basilica is so magnificent. The artwork is all murals versus paintings. I want to climb to the top of the dome before I leave here.  Saturday night was another 5 course exciting meal complete with salami, 3 pastas, mozzarella and tiramisu. Yum!  Like everyone said the food is a whole lot better here than in Chile.  I watched the last half of the Seahawks game at an Irish pub.  On Sunday morning I went to mass at St. Peters. We had to stand the whole time but taking communion from a bunch of priests and bishops is an experience of a lifetime.  After that we went outside to join thousands of people for the Pope's blessing to see him name 21 cardinals from all around the world. Pope Francis is the man and I got a flag from some street vendor to prove it!

Rome was beautiful so was it's gelato, salami sandwiches, cobblestone streets and street artists. What wasn't so beautiful was the large homeless population, Turkish men selling fake designer bags, and the gypses. But hey that just contributes to culture.

Until next time Rome- ciao!

Off to Italy

And just like that I find myself flying internationally again.  After less than a month at home I’m off to continue pursuing my goal of studying abroad for a year by studying with Gonzaga in Florence for 4 months.  Today, with a layover in Dallas I thought to myself how much I have seen and done since the first time I was in Dallas before I left for Santiago 5 months ago. 

And now to answer the numerous questions about my life………
1)   What are your majors and how are you able to study abroad so much?  I’m an international studies and psychology double major.  As dad thinks “international studies” allows to just study all over.  I have 3 minors too and therefore it’s pretty easy to take classes abroad that will count towards graduation.

2)   What classes are you taking in Italy?

Ancient Rome, Ethics, Italian 101, Faith in a World Come of Age, Cross Cultural Psychology. With classes Monday-Thursday. So yes I really do take classes while abroad and I’m looking forward to maybe something a little more challenging then in Chile.

3)   Why Florence/Italy?  Since elementary school I knew I wanted to study abroad for a year. Back then I knew I wanted Spanish speaking for 1 semester and then I thought I wanted to go to South Korea for the other.  Last year I looked into programs for this current semester and I knew people had great experiences with Gonzaga in Florence (GIF) so I decided to check into it. I have only been to Ireland in Europe so I’m excited to travel all over.

4)   Do you know anyone going?  I know 2 people who I met when I was looking at Gonzaga for undergrad.  Other than that there are about 140 Gonzaga University Students, a few from Marquette and a handful from Loyola Marymount…and then me!

5)   What are you most nervous for? I had such an INCREDIBLE time in Chile that I don’t want to lose those memories. I met amazing people there and it’ll be hard not to compare all those experiences with the new ones I’m about to have. Comparison is good, but I need to keep in mind that these are 2 different programs with different people and different adventures.

DU started today and it was a little weird not being there for the first day of school for the new quarters. I don’t think I was ready to go back though. So far this whole living abroad life, meeting new people and traveling has suited me just fine!