Peaceful Assisi Retreat, Exploring My Irish Heritage, Do as the Romans Do!

              

               A long overdue blog post! First, my retreat to Assisi, Italy. I went on a retreat through the school led by Father Russ Rodey on November 17-20^thAssisi is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. We attend multiple masses during the retreat in Saint Francis’ tomb, Our Lady of the Angels church hovering the tiny church of the Portiuncula, and in a tiny chapel of the Sisters of Sweden. Roaming around Assisi, visiting Saint Francis’ and Saint Clare’s Basilicas’, San Dominiano, wandering through the olive tree farms, enjoying the beautiful views, reflecting, and being at peace was the epitome of the weekend. The retreat brought me overwhelming joy and the peace I have been seeking. As Father Russ said in his homily on Sunday’s mass, “When people ask you about this retreat, you won’t be able to describe the feelings. But, I hope that you will say, ‘It gave me peace and joy and now I am just happy.’”

                After the Assisi retreat, I left for Thanksgiving break that next Tuesday, November 22 at 6:30am. This adventure began with an early start and ended with a long day. We took the train to Pisa, Italy. Flew out of Pisa to Dublin, Ireland, took a bus from the Dublin airport to the Dublin train station, took the train 4 hour train to Cork, and got picked up from the Cork train station by my 4^th Cousin Jimmy, and drove 2 hours to Castletownbere. This was the first time I met Jimmy. He is my Great Grandpa’s Cousin – making him my 4^th cousin. Jimmy and his wife Rosemary live on the same property and land that has been in my family for years. Jimmy has 4 daughters, one in which lives in the house that my Great Great Grandfather lived in and she runs the farm, her name is Lynda. Oh boy, Lynda sure is a kick! She is a feisty one. Jimmy’s daughter Elaine lives in Cork and has two young boys, James, 5 years and Daniel 1 ½ years. The two other daughters live in England. Alright, now that there is a little bit of background on the family, let’s get to the stories! After the two hour long car ride I arrived to Jimmy and Rosemary’s house and Rosemary had cooked a “fry-up” for us! It was filled with foods I haven’t eaten in months – bacon, sausage, potato patties, fresh bread, and Irish cider. I thought Jordan’s smile wasn’t going to wipe off his face. He was beyond excited for some yummy meat, haha I have to admit, as was I! We talked for hours about relatives, who I looked like, and ate delicious food.

                The next morning I work up to fresh scones baking in the oven and pourage (oatmeal) on the stove. They sure did take care of us well. That day Jordan and I helped Jimmy out on the farm. We had a fun time exploring, visiting the animals, feeding the chickens, walking around by the ocean, collecting seashells, working in Jimmy’s shop and getting a tour of the old family house. Jordan also rode the stallion (cough cough it was actually a pony… but don’t tell him I told you). Let’s just say the “stallion” was very stubborn and hadn’t been ridden in a while and may have bucked Jordan off a few times. It was hilarious. Jimmy and I couldn’t stop laughing! Jordan is definitely a city boy, but I am sure it was mostly the “stallion’s” fault right? J hahaha! After exploring around the farm and checking out Jimmy’s bee farm (He has about 25 bee boxes, each produces 40lbs of honey and has 60,000-80,000 bees in it! Needless to say, I stayed clear of those bee boxes!) we went back to the house for a snack.
                   It was then time for the grand tour of Castletownbere. If you don’t already know, Castletownbere is a very small town of a population around 1,000 people. We saw the ruins of the Dunby Castle, the “hotel castle,” giant boats at the dock, my great great uncles old home, and went to a pub owned by another cousin and tried my first Guinness. I struggled to suck down that strong dark beer, but I am glad I tried it. After drinking the Guinness we went to Jimmy’s favorite pub that he goes to every Sunday and I had a half pint of cider. I like cider a lot better. It was a very small quaint little pub. When we returned home, Rosemary had an amazing meal prepared for us filled with steak, boiled potato in its jacket (with skin), and grilled vegetables. It was definitely one of the best meals I have had in months. I LOVE steak! Rosemary is a fantastic cook and they just kept shoving food at me. I was BEYOND full after that meal. That night we curled up in the living room in front of the fire, chatted with some other relatives that came to visit, looked through photo albums, and watched some Irish television.

                The next day we had a relaxing morning, I slept in, ate another delicious breakfast with incredible homemade honey, and explored around outside. The drive to Cork was beautiful although it was kind of a stormy day. As we arrived to Cork, we stopped off at Blarney Cstle. It was a big castle, not quite what I was expecting since it was mostly in ruins on the inside but I got to kiss the Blarney Stone! Rosemary even hiked up the hundred stairs with us. She couldn’t believe she did it since she had a knee replacement last year but she made it! After visiting the castle, we stopped at the Largest Irish Store in the world! It was filled with wool products and Christmas items. I found a beautiful wool sweater dress. It was getting late now, so we decided to head for Elaine’s house for her son James’ 5^th birthday party. Jordan and I had a great time playing with the little guys and James clung to Jordan, he is such a kid magnet. I still say it is because he is still a kid himself.

                I heard so many stories, and got a kick out of how funny my Irish relatives are. I was nice to see how similar my family in Ireland is to my family back home. Jimmy and Rosemary treated me just like they have known me for years. I couldn’t have asked for better hosts. I will absolutely have to go visit them again someday. Thank you so much for the wonderful memories! I love Ireland!! It was a great adventure filled with good food, new friends, and welcoming family.

                The next adventure I went on was to Rome, Italy! Rome was another great weekend. I saw the coliseum, threw my coin into the Trevi Fountain, went to the Vatican, Sistine Chapel, got blessed by the pope, explored the pantheon, and saw many beautiful churches. It was a fun, rushed, busy, exciting weekend. We also went to a bar completely made out of ice. It was chilly, but very fun. I enjoyed Rome, although I think it is a city filled with so much culture and things to do that you can’t just see it all in one weekend. There are stills so many things that I would have liked to have seen. I guess that just gives me yet another excuse to come back to Europe!   
               There are only ten days left until my study abroad adventure comes to an end. Today, Christmas came to 85 Cavour. I woke up after a long needed rest to Christmas music blasting through my pensione, Romona (one of the pensione managers) putting up the Christmas tree, and all my pensione-mates laughing and enjoying breakfast together. I truly feel blessed to be here and I know I will miss and cherish the experience forever. BUT! I still have 10 days left and so much to do! Off I go, to get some lunch, work on my paper, explore the markets to get those last-minute Christmas gifts, and maybe even enjoy some vino at Piazza Michelangelo with great friends. I love you friends and family and will see you in 10 days, for now, I am off to go enjoy Firenze!

An Authentic Italian Experience

                Home is where the heart is. Where you feel comfortable sharing experiences over a warm fire and a hot cup of tea. This weekend was definitely one of my most memorable weekends. It all began on Thursday when Jordan and I received an email that the English for Pasta program was looking for students to go visit two more families. We early told Professor Batterman that we were interested in going on the Thursday’s that we were here and he told us that we would start that week. Now wait a minute, I better go back and explain what English for Pasta is. Well, it is basically a program where the Gonzaga-In-Florence students go to a family’s houses and teach the children English in exchange for dinner. Now when we arrived at the apartment we met Matilde, 15, who was the oldest daughter of the house. She was the only one there as her mom and younger sister were off at the pool and her dad was working. Then, her two family friends Biana, 19,  and Lorenzo, 16, (sister and brother) came over too. It ended up just being the three of us for dinner that Matilde’s mom had previously prepared for us which was amazing homemade lasagna, pesto and bread, focaccia bread, salad, homemade apple strudel, and sweet bread. It was an incredible meal. The whole experience was great. We talked about our lives and they talked about theirs. We asked many questions and as did they. Some of the most memorable questions they asked were about Prom and homecoming – haha they thought those were the strangest but coolest things! Lorenzo also asked a question about the sauces in the United States. You see, he is very tall and good at basketball and would one day love to come to the states and play. But, he doesn’t like sauces like ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, BBQ sauce. And he is completely appalled by the idea that we put ketchup on our spaghetti and yogurt on our salads! Jordan and I cracked up when we heard this and told him that we definitely did NOT do that. But many of the Italian youngsters seem to think that the red sauce that we have on spaghetti is ketchup and that ranch dressing is yogurt. They were so entertaining and I learned so much from each of them! Their English was also surprisingly very good, which was nice because my Italian is still very rough.

                That evening I went out for Amy’s birthday with the girls and danced and had a great time. Unfortunately by the end of the night we were unable to find the secret bakery. The secret bakeries are these bakeries that make all of the sweets at like 3am and deliver them fresh to the tobacco shops and bars. Supposedly you can get fresh, hot, sweet treats for like 1 Euro which is a steal! I am determined to find one before I leave. On Friday, I slept for a long time. I was quite tired after the secret bakery search and calling Miss Hannah Banana to wish her happy birthday! But, later that day I went to the top of the Duomo for the first time and the views were incredible… which was good because I had to climb up 472 stairs to get to see that view. Needless to say, my legs were sore the next day.

                On Saturday afternoon I went with Jordan to visit some friends of friends that he recently met in Vecchio which is about an hour out of Florence to stay for the night. The train ride was gorgeous and we saw a lot of the Tuscan countryside. When we arrived Mariano, who is 23 picked us up from the train station. He took us to this awesome co-op in his town where everything in the store was grown and made right there on the farm. We of course had to try home-made gelato which was the best I have ever had! Mariano got some cheese and other things for dinner. Mariano is a linguistics major at the University of Florence so he is fluent in English and a few other languages. When we arrived at Mariano’s house his mother, Ararra, greeted us with open arms and attempted to speak to us in her very broken English. Their house was way out in the country and very simple. They used a wood burning stove to heat their house and cook most of their meals especially in the winter. They just had one bathroom and a couple bedrooms. Very simple but it felt so nice to be in a house. Of course Ararra made an incredible meal filled with hot soup, baked chicken, smoked ham, fruit, and pastries. It was a very simple meal but absolutely delicious and not filled with a bunch of olive oil and fatty greases which I have been having a lot of lately --- it was totally authentic. Augusto, Mariano’s dad, joined us for dinner also. After dinner, we all enjoyed good conversation with bits of translation between Italian and English here and there, had a Bible study in John 10, and sang some beautiful hymns in Italian. I loved singing in Italian. The Italian language is so poetic and all of the words flow together so nicely. By the end of the evening I was exhausted and curled up in my nice twin sized bed piled 10 blankets high (they don’t have very much heating) and fell right asleep. The next morning we got ready for the day to head to Pisa and have Meeting (church) with the other friends in Pisa. Ararra made us breakfast which was a very interesting combination – hot milk, coffee, and cereal. Which sounds completely normal BUT they were all in the same bowl mixed together. I can definitely say I have never had that before. After breakfast we all piled into their little Fiat and Augosto drove us to the Pisa countryside. This was my first time driving in a car since being here in Italy and boy oh boy it sure was a crazy ride. Mom – I know I always tell you that you aren’t a very good driver… well after riding in the car with Augosto I take that back! Italian drivers don’t stop they swerve, they don’t use their blinkers, they hardly use seatbelts, and honk when they are going around a one-way corner to make sure the other car knows to swerve out of the way… if you’re lucky. Although the drive made me carsick, it was a great way to see a lot of Tuscany. There are so many different fortresses built up into the high hills, beautiful changing colors, and farms all around.

                When arriving in Pisa we went to Herbert and Heidi’s house. They are an adorable young Irish couple with four cute children. Herbert’s brother Brian and his wife Olive and their two twin boys were there visiting from Ireland also. We also met another Italian woman whose name I can’t remember how to spell – Rosa or something and another American University student who is from Wisconsin studying abroad in Florence and her name is Lindsey and her boyfriend Luke was visiting. Needless to say, there were a lot of us filled into Herbert and Heidi’s home. We held meeting in their home and it was an unforgettable experience. Each person talking about what they have been recently studying and what God has been putting on their hearts. One thing that Herbert said that has really stuck with me is that we need and need to want to choose the things of the spirit – to be an example in silence. It was also great to hear peoples testimonies in both Italian and English and sing of course in both also. I will never forget this moment. After meeting, we all sat around the table eating brunch and laughing the whole time. Everyone was such jokesters and even though their was a language barrier we were able to just make gestures and just laugh in the silliness of the gestures. The table was filled with smiles and laughter.

                Later that afternoon we returned back to Vecchio where we went to an Italian racetrack called Mugoss. It is one of the most famous racetracks in the entire world. We watched Porsha, Lamborghini’s, and Ferrari’s race. It was awesome! I have never seen so many tricked out fast cars in my life. We also watched some personal car races, drifting, and some sort of smaller car race – to be honest I really don’t know my cars… but it was still cool. After this we returned to Mariano’s house, packed up our stuff, drank some tea, ate some biscotti, and took the 6:00 train home. Everyone we met this weekend were so giving. Marianio’s family was so giving even though they have so very little. They wouldn’t let us pay for anything and treated us so great. It was great to see how humble and god-loving they were as a family. I know that I always have a family to return to in Italy. I am so thankful to have had such an memorable experience.

                I only have one month left of traveling before I head home! This weekend (November 17-19th) I am heading to Assisi for a retreat/pilgrimage which should be very peaceful. In one week I go to Ireland to visit family and have an authentic Irish experience. The week after that I will be going to an opera and go on my last weekend trip to Rome. and then I have prep week and finals. I can’t believe how fast time is flying! There is still so much to do and see. For now, I will just cherish the time I come back and yes Dad, I may just have to come back someday just to make sure that Asotin is the greatest place on Earth. Love you fam bam! Thanks for reading!!

Wrote this a few weeks ago, but forgot to post it. Will be posting all about the Assisi Retreat and the Thanksgiving-Ireland experience soon!

The sinking city!

"Not to live for the day, that would be materialistic -- but to treasure the day. I realize that most of us live on the skin -- on the surface -- without appreciating just how wonderful it is simply to be alive at all" - Audrey Hepburn

Each day I am here abroad I am learning to treasure each moment. Even when I miss my family, I struggle in Italian, I just want to eat some peanut butter, and my feet are tired from walking around. I just stop and take a look around at the beauty surrounding me. I look and see the buildings that have been here for hundreds of years. Italy is full of rich history and culture and there is just so much to explore and see. The past few weekends I have been trying to soak up the culture and really get to know Florence. I have found some of my favorite restaurants including Il Gato La Volpe, Gusta Pizza, Gusta Panino, One Euro Gelato (not exactly sure the name but I know the location across the bridge next to the Ponte Vehicco), and Il Prata. The local markets and Esselunga are the places to go to get fresh food and breads. Dolce Vegan and Caffe Cavour have great tea and coffee. As does the small Euro 50 cents in the vending machine below the school Cappuccino con ciocolatte. Mmmmm. Those things help me get through my two three hour classes… I have to admit they are getting kind of painful. My teacher is just so nice though! My favorite museum is the Pitti Palace and the Bobbali Gardens. I could spend hours in there wandering through the paths of the garden and looking up at the ceilings in the palace. I can navigate to all of the different pensiones, take a train to just about anywhere I want to go, buy a bus ticket to the beautiful local town of Fiesole, and point people into the direction of the Duomo. I think I am almost becoming a local Florentine. Well, maybe I shouldn’t push it that far… but I am having a great time!

            This weekend I was going to just stay around Florence again and explore. But, on a whim Jordan and I decided it was time to go to Venice. We found cheap train tickets and a farm to stay in a town outside of Venice and booked all of this the night before. Our day began on Friday at 3:00am. Needless to say it was beyond exhausting but we made due! I slept on the train most of the way there and when we arrived in Venice we rushed to find a coffee shop to keep us awake, it was going to be a long day ahead. We decided that we would go visit the islands the first day. We saw glass blowing in Morano which was incredible. They make the most amazing pieces of art; each one turning out differently with unique character and imperfections. After glass blowing we wandered around the streets and the little shops until we found a park where we sat and ate our packed lunches. Bread, meat, cheese, peppers, and a banana –cheap yet satisfying! There were many pigeons that thought our food looked yummy too! They were trying to attack us but don’t worry my nija moves chased them off.

After Morano we headed over to Borano which was probably my favorite place. This island is famous for their lace and colorful building. Every building we say was a different bright and vibrant color. It was like walking down the streets of a rainbow. I had so much fun just moseying along the canal through the different streets and shops. There was also a leaning clock tower which was cool. Not quite sure what the point of all of these leaning things is in Italy…but maybe they just can’t seem to build their buildings straight? Haha After hanging around Borano for a couple hours it was time to head back to the mainland of Venice. On the long ferry we met some people from North Carolina, Scottland, it is so fun to meet people! I love hearing about peoples stories and travels. We found the bus station and took 45min bus ride to the farm. It was getting rather dark by this time and well let’s just say we didn’t have the best directions. So we were trying to navigate on pitch dark gravel roads in the middle of the night. We made a wrong turn and ended up at this Villa that we thought was the name of the place we were staying and it definitely wasn’t. The poor woman that lived there didn’t speak any English at all and was trying to tell us she didn’t know what they heck we were talking about while I was insisting this was the place we were supposed to stay. Hahaha I finally suckered up the courage to start speaking in Italian and that worked a lot better. She pointed us down a different road and we found our way to our welcoming farm. It was such a quite place with a farm house turned into a bed and breakfast, stables turned into rooms, orchards surrounding, wheat fields for miles, and lots of cats and dogs. The dinner we had was one of the best meals I have had in Italy. We were served a 3 course meal filled with stuffed potato balls, salad, vegetables, bread, veal, cake, coffee, and wine. Yes dad, I actually tried veal andddd I liked it, a lot! I still don’t know if I am okay with the idea of eating a baby calf.. but I tried not to think about that. The next morning we were also treated wonderfully with fresh pastries, cheese, salami, tea, water. I would definitely recommend anyone going to Venice to stay here. We had so much fun!

            After saying our goodbyes to the farm animals and the cute little family that ran the farm we took the bus to Venice. The city of Venice is actually a lot bigger than I expected and boy oh boy are the streets confusing. It took us like 2 hour to find San Marco square filled with all of the pigeons and the basilica. Of course we had to stop for gelato, eat lunch, and peak in some shops along the way.. so that could have been the problem. I think I could have just walked through the streets of Venice all day. They buildings and canal just make everything look so different, like nothing I have ever seen before. I am so glad I made the spontaneous trip to Venice!

            This weekend I am just staying in Florence which will be quite nice. I was sick in bed for two days this past week so I am still trying to get over that. Today, I am going to hit up some museums with Amy, Jenna, and maybe a few other girls. It should be very fun! Then probably some Chinese food for dinner. We found this awesome super super cheap Chinese place.. so I am kind of obsessed with it right now – already ate there 3 times in the past 2 weeks. Anyways, then tomorrow I may head to Lucca with Jenna and bike around and see the city of a thousand churches. We’ll see! It is so nice that the train system is very easy to navigate and it gives you the ability to just buy a ticket a go to a wide ranges of places in such a quick amount of time. I really wish the US had a train system like Europe! Oh, and I found out some information from Great Aunt Sharon today about Ireland. My family lives in Castletownbere, I am excited to continue to find out more information and learn more about my roots! Well, I better finish getting ready. Almost time to head to the museums. Thanks for reading fam bam! And Happy Birthday Payton! Love and miss you!!

The journey keeps on going ... Amalfi Coast, Pisa, Cinque Terre and more!

                I know that I really do need to better about updating my blog but when it is so warm and sunny outside all I want to do is wander! However, today it feels like a brisk fall day. I think fall may finally be here. I actually had to wear jeans and a jacket. Goodness, I do have so much to talk about. Let me start with last week. It was a great week; I had my regular classes, studying, reading, and sculpting. I also attended a cooking class. About 15 students went to a local cooking school where we made a three course meal. The appetizer was an eggplant, tomato, and mozzarella cheese with oregano sprinkled on top. The main meal was pesto lasagna and for dessert we made tiramisu! The food was absolutely incredible. And yes, I got the recipes so expect some fun cooking nights when I get back! Mom – I have had so much tiramisu since I have been here and think about you every time I eat it. Dad – you would love all the pizza I am having. It is just so delicious! Alright alright, I better stop talking about food… I bet you can tell I am writing this right before lunch! Hahaha

                Now onto the weekend, well two weekends ago, I went to the Amalfi Coast! We specifically went to Sorrento, Pompeii, and the island of Capri. I went with Amy, Sarah, Kristie, Bridget, and Nicole. We had a great girl’s weekend. Amy, Sarah and traveled via public trains which was quite an experience of riding in a “Harry Potter” looking train car, missing the last train to Sorrento and having to wait on a street corner in Naples hoping and praying the last bus would actually show up, and walking around for 40 minutes searching for our cabin in the dark. Don’t worry, I am alive even though I definitely would not recommend being near the Naples train station at 11:00 at night... probably wasn’t the safest but I kept my cool and we met to Lithuanian women who were also heading to Sorrento. We made friend with them, I mean traveling is always better in numbers especially at night! Now back to the cabin... well one of the other girls booked where we were staying so I had no idea we were camping! Well, I mean I know what camping is and staying in a tiny three person cabin with a small kitchen and a bathroom is pretty much luxury camping but I was shocked as we were getting eaten alive by mosquitoes in this forest like area in search of our cabin. The next day I must say it a pretty clearly marked path... but everything looks so much different in the dark! We actually really enjoyed staying in the cabin besides the fact we had to buy some leggings and a jacket in order to stay warm in the evening. But, it was fun to cook and sit out on our little deck looking out at the ocean. The next day we found our favorite grocery store where we stalked up on apples, yogurt, bread and snacks and headed to get on the fairy to Capri. Capri is a small island about a 25 minute ferry ride from Sorrento. When we arrived on the island Sarah, Amy and I had no plans and just started wandering up this steep hill in search of some lunch. We ran into this tiny market and in the back of the market was this elderly butcher. He told us all about how he has lived in Capri his whole life. He gave us a giant capriese sandwich split into three parts and gave us directions to a secret beach than really only locals know about. He was right, there were literally only about 4 people there and this was a big beach filled with big sections of rocks that you could lay out on. We enjoyed our lunch on this big boulder and then jumped into the clear blue ocean. The water was so warm and salty. It felt so awesome to be swimming in water that you could see nearly to the bottom. After swimming for a while we napped and sunbathed on the rocks. It was a much needed relaxing day. We explored Capri then returned to Sorrento to grab some dinner from the market and enjoy it on our porch.

The next day we spent in Pompeii. It was incredible to see the 2,000 year old ruins. I can’t even believe how well preserved the city is. We spent literally all day walking through the ruins, pretending to be statues, and reading up on all of the history. I was in awe the entire time. It was a great day. That evening we enjoyed a nice pizza dinner in Sorrento and I had one of the best desserts I have ever had. It was two of my favorite things combined: a cinnamon roll and gelato. It was a cinnamon roll with gelato stuffed inside. Ahhh sooo yummy! I just love food way too much. That evening we were sitting outside and about to walk up to the other public bathroom (our toilet didn’t work all weekend) and we heard these loud banging noises. It ended up being fireworks! We walked down the hill a little bit past our cabin and were able to watch the best fireworks show I have ever seen. There were crazy incredible fireworks being let off right over the ocean. It was a colorful evening that I wish I could have captured on camera. On Sunday it was time to head back to Florence. After a long amazing weekend I was not ready to head back but I knew it was time and I was exhausted!

The next week was a standard busy week filled with exploring Florence, enjoying the amazing food, attempting to focus on homework. Now onto last weekend, I went to Pisa, Italy on Thursday night. I of course saw the lovely leaning tower and walked through the markets. To me, Pisa really wasn’t that exciting. I mean the leaning tower was awesome but overall the city was kind of smelly. Don’t get me wrong though, I had a great time and there was a lot of character to the buildings.

On Friday Jordan and I headed over to Cinque Terre. On Thursday we had been dating for a year and half (crazy how time flies!) and it just happened that we planned a trip together for the same weekend. Cinque Terre was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been in my life. I loved the vibe, colors, ocean views, and the people. We stayed in Riomaggiare which was one of the last small towns. All of the towns in Cinque Terre are built right above or next to the ocean. You have to walk up hills to get anywhere and the colors are beyond words. I will definitely be coming back here some day! We had such a nice relaxing weekend hiking through the five cities, enjoying a nice meal in a castle and watching the ocean storm, making dinner, and sitting out on the terrace. It was definitely an unforgettable weekend and I hope my pictures will help convey how beautiful it was!

Oh and Jordan being the big surpriser that he is, surprised me with a pearl necklace before dinner on Friday night. They are very pretty and went perfectly with the dress I was wearing that evening. The food we had all weekend was incredible! At our nice dinner we enjoyed pesto pasta, seafood pasta, and sea bass. I loved the seafood! And Cinque Terre is where pesto was invented and I can say that I have never tasted pesto this good before. The next evening when we cooked dinner we had pork chops from the local butcher, focaccia bread (another Cinque Terre favorite), and heart shaped homemade pasta. Again, my love for food just overwhelms me sometimes! It just all tasted SO good!! Honestly, when Sunday hit I did not want to leave. Cinque Terre just did something to me, melting my heart and made me want to just enjoy the peaceful, not crowed, beautiful, simple life. I can’t wait until I can go back. The next chance I get, it is going to be at the top of my list!

Now that is really about it... I actually just finished my lunch here and am about to study for an Italian quiz that I have on Wednesday. I also have sculpture later this afternoon. Always look forward to that class. I am excited to see how my last set turned out. I hope all is well back in the USA! Thanks for reading about my journey. Love you Fam Bam!!

Firenze!

I have now been in Italy for about 10 days. Oh what a journey it has been. I have started my classes, I am taking Italian 101 (goodness is it confusing! I get so messed up with my Spanish... but I will get it down), Cross Cultural Communication, Sociology of Italian Culture, Philosophy Ethics, and Sculpture. Yes, I know you saw that in there... I am taking sculpture! I decided to channel my creative side and learn how to sculpt! When in Italy why not study all of the hundreds of sculptures around and build a new skill?! We start sculpting tomorrow so I will keep you posted on how that goes. My other classes seem to be going pretty well so far; they are all quite enjoyable. As I said before, Italian is tough and my teacher is well… been teaching for about 35 years at Gonzaga-In-Florence so she has been around for quite a while. It is fun to try to practice basic phrases in the market and when I order gelato. 

I have basically been exploring the city. The first weekend here I got my Friends of Uffizi pass which allows me to go visit about 22 museums around the city! It was an incredible deal and I have been exploring a few museums but still have yet to see the David. I am hoping to stop by on Tuesday night the museums that it is in is literally just down the street so I don’t know why I haven’t been in there yet. Anyway, I saw a few Leonardo D’ Vinci paintings, the art here is incredible. I found the 1 Euro Gelato shop which sure is dangerous... boy oh boy do I love gelato! Last week it seemed like everyone was sick here. I definitely had a terrible cold but I took care of myself, took some medicine, and drank lots of water and felt better in about 48 hours! I feel like I am the mom passing out medicine and hand sanitizer haha! Thanks mom and grams for convincing me to bring so much medicine!! The other delectable food I have discovered is the pizza. Yum! Dad, you would just love it. It has so many flavors and it seems like each place I go to has some different twist to it. It has been fun exploring around town to find the cheapest restaurants and cute hole in the walls. I am excited to continue exploring and finding my regular spots!

This weekend while most everyone left on a school trip Jordan, Gini, Collin, and I stayed behind to have the ultimate double date weekend! Haha well, it wasn’t really planned to be that but worked out that way and we had a blast! On Friday we went to Viareggio, Italy which is a beach about an hour train ride away along the Tuscan coast. It was a beautiful seaside town. First, we thought we were doing so well finding the train and getting to the train on time before all of the seats were taking until... the train conductor walked around to check our tickets and we forgot to validate them. In Europe this is a HUGE no-no. Luckily, the guy was nice and allowed us to only pay a 5 Euro fine rather than a 40 Euro fine. We were thankful and learned our lesson!! I will never forget to validate any of my tickets again. When we arrived to the town we walked about 2 miles from the train station to the beach. It was a scorching hot day. The beaches looked beautiful all lined with umbrellas and with matching chairs, but little did we know… those were the private beaches. It was lined for miles! We finally had to ask someone where the public beach was. This was another I would like to argue 2 mile walk until we found this tiny patch of public beach. It definitely wasn’t as luxurious but at that point we were tired, hot, and ready to eat our picnic lunch and jump in the cool blue water! We ended up having a great time baking in the sun, eating our snacks, and playing in the water. I have to admit, I was a little scared of swimming in the water because Collin told me he saw little jellyfish and they could sting you! I just kept my eyes up the whole time and moved quickly if I ever felt the slightest thing near me. Needless to say, I am a wimp and mostly spent my time on shore hahaha! At around 5pm it was time to start heading back to Florence. We hopped back on the train taking small power naps and were on the hunt for somewhere to eat! Now, don’t make fun…but we went to a Chinese restaurant. It was filled with seafood which was yummy but it definitely didn’t have as many spices and flavors as the Chinese food in America. But, I was starving so I ate it! That night we were all sunburnt and exhausted from the sun and went back and I crawled into my tiny twin sized bed.

The next day I woke up about 9ish and ate my free breakfast here in my pensione and got ready for the day! We were then on the hunt for the free shuttle bus to Ikea. Gini and I needed a mat for our bathroom and Jordan wanted a pillow. After about 2 hours and almost giving up 3 times we learned this lesson: “When Italians don’t know what you are asking them they will just point you in a direction to get you to leave them alone.” But, since none of us are quitters, we gave it one last try and asked a tourist information desk... yes we claimed ourselves as tourists. And it turned out that the stop was right next to where we started and the reason we couldn’t find it was because it didn’t start running until 1:30pm. We made it though and had a great Italian Ikea experience! Later that night we took the bus to Fiesole which is a nearby town about 20 minutes away. Fiesole overlooks the city of Florence and has incredible views. Unfortunately it was a bit cloudy that evening so we couldn’t see the sunset but we all decided this was definitely a place we wanted to come too often. We had dinner there and it was a really fun evening. I think Fiesole is one of my favorite places so far. It was just so calm and peaceful.

Florence is really not as quaint and peaceful as I thought it would be. There are constantly cars, buses, and motorcycles that try to run you over. Pedestrians do NOT have the ride-away. The city streets a cluttered with garbage and the sidewalks barely fit two people walking side-by-side. However, through all of this you find the hidden gems within Florence; you will find the Ponte Vecchio Bridge which looks over the canal and off into the city, the Duomo which is a beautiful church with architecture that just amazes me every time I look at it. Small parks dispersed throughout the city. Arch ways, vibrant colorful buildings, sculptures, and fountains. I have been learning to look beyond what is obvious and look a little deeper into the city. I am glad that I have the opportunity. I truly makes me appreciate how fortunate I am to have clean streets, sidewalks, washing machines, free water, chocolate chip cookies, quietness, peanut butter... just to name a few things I miss! Thanks everyone for supporting me in my endeavors. I wouldn’t be here experiencing this without you. I’m off to go study Italian!

Peace and love,

Kayla

The end of Opening Tour, but just the beginning of Italy.

The moment is finally here.. my first blog post! I have been meaning to update you all about my trip for 2 weeks now but I haven’t had an ounce of downtime or decent internet access until now. Oh goodness where to start, well just so you know ahead of time this is going to be a very long blog post so I will not be offended if you skim :)

Let’s start with my flight, I left on September 4^th with my two pieces of luggage and my giant backpack filled with clothes rolled up into tiny hotdog shapes. Saying goodbye to my family was rather hard and I have to admit I did have a few tears well up in my eyes. Although I am beyond grateful and excited for this experience, being away for three and a half months is going to be a challenge. After giving my hugs and kisses and wiping away my salty wet tears it was time to get ready to go and I was as ready as I ever would be. Now flying was less than a pleasant experience. The flights were overbooked, smelling, hot, uncomfortable, and filled with coughing sneezing crying people. I ended up missing one flight, barely making it on a two hour delayed one and in the end getting on a completely different flight than everyone else. Luckily I had one other girl with me when we arrived in Berlin and were able to track down and find the other 13 Gonzaga kids traveling with us. Unfortunately our luggage was lost and no one seemed to be able to track it down. I was crabby, overwhelmed and extremely stressed at this point. I was thinking to myself am I actually supposed to be here? Is this a sign? But after calming down and finally arriving at my hotel in Berlin with my carryon (that I was luckily prepared enough to have packed all that I would need to 10 days) I remembered how fortunate I was to actually be in Berlin and about to go on this amazing journey. My temper tantrum was over and I was done saying “don’t talka me I crabby!” :) haha.

My roommate in my Berlin hotel was Amanda. Someone I had never met before but we had mutual friends and she is someone I think I will get along with very well. After an amazing German dinner I stuffed my face and passed out in my bed for 9 hours until the next morning when we had a fun busy day! We took a three hour long bus tour of Berlin and made many stops as we saw the Berlin wall, shopping centers, historic buildings, embassy’s, and a holocaust memorial. It was great to learn about Berlin and I was surprised how modern and built up the city was. It definitely took a while for it to sink in that I am actually in a city thousands of miles away from home. Later that day I went on an optional tour to a Jewish museum and walked around town to find a place to eat dinner. We finally came upon a restaurant and ladies and gentleman it was finally time for me to order my first alcoholic drink! I asked the waiter what his sweetest beer was and he looked at me like I was crazy... I hesitated for a moment and he said he would surprise me. He came back with a delicious mango beer. It was really really good! Dinner was delicious, meatballs with buttered potatoes and this cream gravy sauce. Definitely a traditional German meal. We ended up getting lost on our way back but eventually found our way. It seems that in every city I tend to get a little mixed around! Now it was time to check out a local German pub. We found this little hole-in-the-wall a couple blocks from our hotel. It was filled with old German men that barely spoke a word of English. Here the Germans laughed at our pronunciations, the boys ordering girly drinks for the girls, and eventually came out side and gave us 6 Euros for more “girly” drinks and they bought us each a round of these tiny shot drinks in a bottle. This was definitely an experience I will never forget, hanging out with the locals and immersing myself into the culture.

The next day I woke up to a dark and dreary morning. It was actually the perfect environment for the place we were about to see. That day we went to a concentration camp. The sachsenhausen concentration camp. Honestly seeing a concentration camp was one of the most gut-wrenching things I have ever experienced. To this day I can’t even imagine the pain and suffering people went through. It honestly boggles my mind so much and puts me to tears even writing about it right now. It was a sad and earry experience but I am happy that it was something that I got to see. To cheer up the evening we went back to the German pub and hung out with the locals for another fun evening.

Now we are off to Prague, but on the way to Prague we stopped in Dresden, Germany for a few hours. This was a beautiful quaint city. I really wish we would have spent the night there as there were so many museums I would have liked to see! Now Prague... Ohhh Prague, what a beautiful, crazy, and exciting city. The architecture is absolutely beautiful and the city is stunning all around. I would have loved to stay longer to just enjoy the scenery. We went on a tour and learned all about the detailed architecture and history. Amy, Mariah, Jordan and I enjoyed a nice fish, salad, and potatoes for lunch. The fish was incredible probably some of the best fish I have ever had. I definitely felt like I was in Europe when I was walking through the streets of Prague. In Prague around 9pm we left for a pub crawl. Apparently this is the exciting thing to do and so I joined alone with basically the entire Gonzaga-In-Florence student body... Not going to lie, I was a little nervous for this crazy adventure but I tucked my money belt under my shirt and made sure I had close group of at least 7 people that would be looking out for each other at all times. All in all it ended up being surprisingly very organized and fun. I am glad I had the experience of pub crawling and ending up at this crazy 5 story disco but I realized I definitely like my smaller group nights like the ones at the German pub better. Since I didn’t get to bed until 3:30am and we had to wake up at 6:30am the next morning was a bit of a struggle but luckily was had a lot of bus riding ahead of us so I slept the whole way!

We made a stop in Nuremburg for a guided tour and to have some lunch. This was another beautiful city but it was definitely overwhelming with all of the people. That day there was a huge Red Bull sponsored bike race/tricks tournament going on with over 40,000 people crammed into this tiny city. Lunch was absolutely delicious. We stopped off at this tiny bakery/sandwich shop that had amazing bread and fresh cheese. Now it was time for the bus again and our final destination hotel in Bad Kohlgrub, Germany. This is a tiny southern German town. Ahh it was so adorable and definitely my favorite place! My roommate was Mandy and I love her. I have known her well since freshman year and it was nice to finally room with someone I knew. That night I had a relaxing evening with the girls and watched a movie. It was very peaceful.

The first official day in Bad Kohlgrub was a blast! It was September 11^th and the 10^th anniversary of 911. That morning I attended mass in this adorable little church and listened to the homily talk about the tragic day that will go down in history forever. Later that day we went on a hike. Now this wasn’t like any other hike I had ever been on before... this was like one of the hardest hikes I have ever done. It was straight up hill for 9 miles. Extremely steep. My legs were SO out of air by the time I reached the top... or after the first couple miles really haha! But, the views made it so worth it. I could have just stayed up there forever and enjoyed the view.

The next day we left Bad Kohlgrub for the day and went to Salzburg, Austria. We enjoyed a wonderful tour of Salzburg. The gorgeous snow tipped mountains, beaming blue skies, green rolling hills, and colorful flowers growing everywhere mad Salzburg shine. I was also very excited to see all of the main attractions where “The Sound of Music” was filmed. We enjoyed some awesome views of the city and the peace of St. Peters church. That evening Jordan, Gini, Collin, and HI acted all sophisticated talking about nerdy things, listened to classical music and enjoyed some wine on the balcony of the hotel while staring up the gleaming stars. It was a great day.

Our last fun filled day of opening tour we took a tour of the Schlob Neuschwanstein Castle. It you don’t know very much about this castle, it is the one that Disney bases all of its castles on in the movies and in Disneyland. It was incredible! We have already toured a few castles on this trip but nothing like this one. It was a medieval castle surrounded by mountains, green hills, and clear blue water. Our tour guide was fantastic and he filled our brains full of history, made fun sound effects, and rocked out the music jams. It was hilarious. On our bus ride home from the castle we stopped in Garmish where the Olympics were played some years ago and we enjoyed some of the famous 7 layer chocolate cake.
          The next morning we took the 7 hour bus ride to Florence and finally arrived in our Pensione on September 14^th. I am living in 85 Cavour in a triple with Kristie Infantine and Gini Soto. They are adorable girls and I am so excited to live with them! Our room is small and quaint with its own tiny little bathroom. Our Pensione only has 22 students living in it and is run by a sweet little family Ramona, Ricardo, Gaspésie, and Marco. Today was my first day of class. I am excited to finally start learning again! I had Italian 101 and Philosophy 301. I think they are both going to be great classes! Well I am off to go figure out the internet situation and get a few things that I need here.

Thank you for reading Fam Bam!

Love, 

Kayla aka Goggie :)